Geeks in Love
by Lahdolphin
Summary: Pizza. Mountain Dew. Dorky dance moves. Inside jokes. Tennis. Best friends. Video games. Hugs. Stupid nicknames. Pink, fuzzy, leopard print pajamas. Annoying siblings. Secrets. Pickles and peanut butter. Kisses. They're really just geeks in love. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor do I own a companies (Nintendo, Facebook, etc...), food chains, books, movies, songs, etc… mentioned in this fic. I am by no means profiting from writing this piece (besides my own, and hopefully your, personal enjoyment).**

**Warning: Shonen-ai (male/male), some language, homophobia, the slight possibility of violence, and some sexual themes.  
**

**Note I: Niou's messages are in **_**bold italics**_** while Marui's are just **_italics._** Also the chats aren't supposed to have grammar.**

* * *

**- 1 -  
**

Niou was basically an open book about his life. But, like any good author, he liked to keep a few things to himself.

No one knew that he did math for fun (hard math at that), liked country music, had never kissed a girl, and wore pink, fuzzy, leopard PJs to bed. Well, his best friend Marui knew, but no one else did. People always thought Niou was a bit of a player, some even called him a pimp, so Marui agreed to just go along with it.

But when they were alone, like tonight in Niou's room, they would joke about those rumors. Of course, neither talked out loud, that would ruin the secret, so instead they both bought Nintendo DS's with their Christmas money.

Niou was on his bed, lying on his stomach, black DS in hand, waiting for a ping. Marui was at the foot of the bed, his head right by Niou's hands, poking at the screen of a silver DS. The soft sounds of some old, American country song was playing in the earphones they were sharing.

_Inoue is cheating on_

Marui sent it and had to start a new message. He couldn't seem to press the little keys on the keyboard, so he actually wrote things out in big, huge letters.

_Miki_

Niou raised an eyebrow and smiled. That was interesting. He picked up his pointer and quickly wrote:

_**Since when?**_

Ping.

_IDK I saw them going at it on the roof_

Send. Ping. Wait.

_You know what that's like_

Send. Another ping. More waiting.

_Never mind_

Niou rolled his eyes. Marui always teased him about never kissing a girl. The fact that the current song playing off his favorite playlist (not that he would ever admit it to anyone but Marui) was "Kiss a Girl" by Keith Urban. Perfect.

_**STFU**_

Niou smirked as he hit send, and then peeked over Marui's head, but the red head pulled his DS out of his sight. He hit something and then hit send. Niou's DS pinged a second later.

_I wanna kiss a Niou_

Niou turned to look at Marui and when he did, Marui's face was just inches away from him. "What are you –" Niou couldn't finish. Marui pressed his lips on Niou's, gently pressing against the trickster at first, but then he did a little harder. Marui pulled away a second later, readjusted himself, and began to type again.

_I like this song too _

Send. Ping. Wait.

_:D_

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**A/N: If you know the song "Kiss a Girl" you know one of the lyrics is "I wanna kiss a girl." Marui said "I wanna kiss a Niou." I don't own that song (but you already know that).**

**Also, like I said, I have no idea when I'll be updating this story… Whenever I write for it I guess (which is whenever I want to). I could update a few times a week or maybe once a month. **

**Comments? See any mistakes (I wrote this fairly quickly)? Concerns?**


	2. Chapter 2

**- 2 -**

They didn't talk about the kiss at all for the next week. It was just another secret in the back of their minds. But that didn't mean they didn't think about it. Niou couldn't help but think that he was gay because his first and only kiss had been with a boy, his best friend nonetheless. And Marui, well, he thought that his heart would have stopped doing hand stands whenever he saw Niou, but he was wrong.

So there they sat, in Marui's bedroom, wii remotes in their hands as they desperately tried to get that stupid pixel ball to act somewhat real.

"Crap!" Marui yelled as his mii missed the ball again.

Niou smirked as his mii was cheered on. He liked this. Just acting like things were normal made things seem normal. They were fourteen and kisses were just an everyday thing to do when you live busy lives like them. Besides, Marui looked cute when he was mad because his nostrils flared out (not that Niou would ever admit that he loved it).

Marui pulled the remote off his wrist and walked over to his bed in the corner. He sat down and watched Niou do a little victory dance, old time disco moves and all.

"Loser," Marui said with an eye roll and the coffee to go.

Niou stopped dancing and unhooked his remote so he could sit down next to Marui. "Bitch."

"Loser jerk."

Niou rolled his eyes hit Marui gently on the back of the head. "If I recall, you lost. So that makes you a loser bitch."

Marui smirked and rubbed the back of his head, then that smirk turned into a laugh. "We sound like an old married couple who ditched the pet names after the kids moved out."

Niou raised an eyebrow and moved back on the bed, his back pressed against the wall. "Well, we can't be those old farts because we've never had pet names. Besides, only people who go out have those things. Except Yukimura, he's just asking for me to strangle him sometimes."

Marui laughed again as he moved up towards the pillow, his legs stretched out and his feet only inches away from Niou's.

"Okay, Yukimura doesn't count. But you've got to admit that we do sound like some weirdo couple sometimes."

Niou shrugged and wiggled his toes, grazing Marui's. "I guess…" He moved his toes again. "But we're not going out."

Marui nodded, his cheeks turning a little pink when Niou moved his foot over his. "Y-yeah. Two guys can't go out anyways, right?"

Niou gave him a look and it wasn't a good one. "Why not? It's the twenty-first century. Sure we can't get married, but that doesn't mean we can't go out."

Marui wiggled his toes and Niou kicked his foot playfully.

"Why'd you say 'we' anyways? We're not going out." Niou didn't move when Marui continued. "Are we?"

Niou moved his foot again. "I don't know. We hang out, text each other late at night, go over to each other's houses, we kissed –"

Marui's face turned bright red as Niou froze midsentence. He had said the word, the word that they silently agreed to never speak of. He said the K word. The room went silent and their feet froze.

"We did kiss," Marui finally said after a minute.

Niou bit his lip. Then he moved and crawled over to Marui. The red head opened his mouth to ask what the heck he was doing, but Niou's lips covered his. Marui pulled his head back into his pillow and just stared at Niou. Then he poked his head back out and kissed him again. It was warm and gentle, like it should be.

Niou pulled his head back and pecked Marui's lips with a smirk held on his own. "And I just kissed you three more times. How many times does that make? Rather, how many times do you need to kiss before you're officially going out?"

Marui paused, smirked, and grabbed Niou by the back of the neck, pulling him down onto him so chests were pressed up against each other. He could feel Niou's breath against his cheeks, they were so close it made his heart skip the hand stand phase and go straight to making up his neck.

"At least ten." He kissed him again.

Niou smiled and kissed Marui three more times. "I think it's at least twenty."

"Or is it thirty?"

Niou smirked when Marui ran his fingers through his white hair. "On second thought," he kissed Marui, gently running his tongue over his bottom lip before pulling back, "I'm pretty sure it's forty."

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**A/N: …er? This is sort of turning into a really crappy story! I really hate making two teenage guys go out since that's just not going to happen (guys refuse to believe they're gay most of the time, especially when they're fourteen), but I really don't give a crap in this story. Fluff if fluff and Niou/Marui is Niou/Marui,**


	3. Chapter 3

**- 3 -**

School was not something either of the boys enjoyed. For Niou it was so easy it was boring. Marui, well, he struggled sometimes, but Niou tutoring him always was enjoyable.

But since they started officially going out, school seemed bearable for both of them. They didn't try to hide their relationship either. They began to look at each other more, text in class a little more than before, and Niou even wrapped his arm around Marui's waist in the hall way once.

People thought they were kidding when they said that yes, they going out. Girls would laugh, boys would tease. They would just ignore them, though they did kick Akaya in the place where men don't want to be kicked, the shin.

Even Yukimura seemed skeptical about their relationship. So he decided to put this to an end once and for all after a week of he said she said they said they were going out (it was not as fun as it sounds).

"Are you two going out?"

It was blunt, yes, but the fact that it was in the middle of laps was even more surprising. Yukimura never talked during laps, even if he was choking he refused to make a peep until that last step was taken.

Niou raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Yukimura kept his eyes forward as they turned the corner. "I've heard my fair share of rumors, and Akaya was crying, again."

Marui smiled. That time they had kicked him in the other place men don't want to be kicked, the butt.

"Well, we are," Niou replied.

Yukimura looked over at them without moving his head, saw how close they were, and then refocused his eyes on the next corner.

"Don't lie to me, Niou Masaharu, or you will die a short, violent death. Homosexuality is not a joke, not here. I do not tolerate that sort of business on my courts."

Marui tilted his head and poked it out, looking at Yukimura with a confused frown. "Why would we lie? What do we have to gain? A short, violent death?"

"I don't know, but you have a lot to lose including that. If I remember correctly, neither of your parents are alright with same sex relationships. Niou, yours especially. Besides, I doubt they'll let their virgin-kisser go out with a guy."

Yukimura knew everything Niou said about his flings with girls was total BS. Everything Yukimura was saying was aimed at Niou. Yukimura was like an archer on the Great Wall of China with flaming arrows to shot down anyone who trespassed. Niou just trespassed.

"I have been kissed," Niou informed in.

Marui nodded. "Fifty-two times. Oh, Yukimura, how many kisses does it take to be officially going out? I thought it was ten, and then Niou thought it was twenty. We just decided to make it an even fifty… plus a few extra in case we lost count."

If Yukimura was an archer and Niou was a trespasser, then Marui was an assassin who snuck up behind Yukimura and cut him down before he could hurt Niou.

Yukimura ignored them and sprinted the last ten laps. If Yukimura wasn't okay with their relationship, then to hell with him. Marui and Niou kept running.

* * *

**A/N: Yukimura is a homophobe… Or at least he is in the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**- 4 -**

After that talk-and-run thing with Yukimura, the rumors stopped being about "what if" and turned into whispers of "fags" or "did you hear?" It pissed Marui off the way people looked at him in the hall. He honestly thought people would be open to the idea, but apparently they weren't. He thought he could deal with the title of "gay" but he couldn't.

Niou wasn't having any better luck. Even the teachers seemed to look at him differently. He honestly couldn't care less, but the girls who pretended to be with him couldn't care more. They were getting shunned, too. People thought they turned Niou gay. Same went for the girls who went out with Marui, they were so bad they made him gay.

But it wasn't like that. Marui just liked Niou for all the dumb little things. Niou was the one who _wanted_ to get stuck on top of the Ferris Wheel. Niou was the one who danced in pink, fuzzy leopard PJs to dorky American country music. Hell, Niou was the one who just made sense.

And to Niou, Marui was the one who actually kept secrets. Marui was the one who understood just how cool math could be if you apply it to the right thing. And Marui was the one who was always there.

They probably always liked each other, but just didn't realize it until those stupid hormones had to go and do those stupid things.

Those girls had nothing to do with it, but people still thought otherwise.

But, in the end, after school, they were free from the rumors of those shallow teenagers who just didn't get it. They were free to be geeks in love who go to tacky shops for dates just because they know how much fun it is to try on sunglasses that look stupid.

This particular shop was in the middle of town. It was small and full of little knickknacks with a few racks of clothes in the back. Marui grabbed a pair of huge glasses that were shaped like money symbols. He slipped them on and then Niou told him to stay there. Marui stood there, waiting while Niou ran to the back of the store.

"Hurry up!" Marui yelled, not carrying is someone heard or not. Besides, the story was empty (besides employees) and the girl at the counter seemed amused by their stupid antics.

Niou returned a moment later with a large top hat, a cane, a gray beard, and a furry coat. He put the hat on Marui as well as the other things and then took a step back, nodding in achievement.

"How do I look?" Marui asked as he spun around.

"Like a ninety year old pimp."

Marui stopped spinning and grabbed his side. "Oh, my hip! My insane, semi-legal antics made me break my hip!"

Niou smiled and reached into his pocket. He flipped up his phone and grabbed Marui's wrist. He dragged him over to the counter and gave the girl his phone. "I'll be back in a minute," he told her with a wink.

She blushed.

Niou came back a second later with a platinum blonde wig and sunglasses. He quickly put on the wig and the sunglasses. He put Marui's arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"Say 'sex,'" the cashier told them with a smile. Marui said sex, but Niou kept his lips on Marui's wiry beard. The phone beeped and Niou took in from her. He looked at the picture and smiled, and then he looked back up at the girl and smiled again.

"Thanks, Amaya," he said as he grabbed Marui's wrist and dragged him into the back of the shops by the changing rooms and old dresses.

"You know her?" Marui asked as he began to take his hat and everything else off.

Niou nodded and yanked the wig off his head. "Yagyuu and I used to come here a lot. You know, back before the switch-a-roo act was expected. We still come here sometimes."

Marui felt oddly jealous. He knew he shouldn't be, but he was. Niou pulled his sunglasses off and looked at Marui. He sighed and grabbed Marui's wrist and yanked him into one of the dressing room, pulling the curtain shut behind them.

He pressed his lips up against Marui's so hard Marui had to take a step back. Niou seemed much taller when they kissed. Even though it had been Marui who first kissed him, it was Niou who first ran his tongue along Marui's bottom lip. It was Niou who first pressed Marui into a wall. It was Niou who first used his tongue.

Niou pulled back and pulled the collar of Marui's school uniform away before latching his lips onto the skin there. Marui grabbed Niou's hips and bit his lip. God that felt good. Niou pulled back again and pecked Marui's lips before walking out of the dressing room.

"Ten bucks says Amaya tries to ask me out when I go up to pay for –" he grabbed a random shirt –"this, and that she turns tomato red when she sees the hickey."

Marui smirked. "Deal." No way would that girl ask Niou out.

They went up to the counter. She smiled politely and took the shirt. "Niou, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to –" she looked up from the shirt and the register and at the two boys. "Never mind." She turned bright red.

Marui reached into his pocket and cursed. He handed Niou the money as Amaya gave them an odd look.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked as she fumbled with the buttons on the register. "T-that's ten dollars."

"What luck? That bet just paid for my shirt." He handed Amaya the money he had just gotten. "What's that shirt say anyways?" Niou asked curiously.

She blushed again and held it up. The shirt was orange and was blank on the front, but on the back it had an arrow pointing downwards, but above the arrow it read: ENTER HERE.

Marui glared at Niou, holding his hand out. "She didn't notice the goddamn hickey. I want my money back."

Amaya looked at Marui and then saw the bright red mark on his neck. "Oh… Oh. Oh!" That's when it all clicked. She quickly shoved the shirt in the bag and handed it to them. "Thank you have a nice day, please don't come again," she said quickly.

Niou took the bag and the two exited the store. Once they were back on the street, Marui demanded his money once again. Niou shoved the bag into his hands and said, "Think of this as payment for your ten dollars –which are totally mine– and my PMS."

"You don't PMS, dipshit," Marui mumbled as he moved the bag into one hand.

"Yes, I do. I deal with _possessive Marui and his shit_ syndrome." Niou put an arm around Marui's shoulder. "But I don't mind. My medicine is this."

"And 'this' would be…?" Marui asked, his face turning red as others looked at them.

"Dealing with _possessive Marui and his shit_ syndrome is the first disease where the disease is not only the disease, but the medicine as well. So don't feel too bad, I'll put up with your possessiveness and your shit as long as you put up with me."

Marui smiled and suddenly the faces of the people looking at them disappeared.

"Well, you're going to have PMS for quite some time then, because I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

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**A/N: Er… Yeah… Someone in my health class asked what PMS was, and my teacher said, "Putting up with men's shit." I turned it into possessive Marui shit XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**- 5 -**

Practice was never that hard for Marui or Niou. They ran, did a few racquet swings, maybe played a practice match, and then helped clean up or teach first years. It was simple. But then Yukimura went all Spartastic dictator on their asses. Niou was running almost all of practice (Yukimura actually enforced the no cursing rule), while Marui spent the majority of his time having his face beat into the ground by Sanada (Yukimura actually made Sanada go all out on him).

Niou was pretty sure that Yukimura put the "dic" in "dictator."

Not that he would dare say that… to Yukimura.

He and Marui did laugh about it several times, though, because the two stopped hanging out with the regulars after practice. They all used to take turns picking places – the arcade, the pizza parlor, someone's house, and other random places. The two honestly did miss spending time with their doubles partners outside of practice, but they didn't miss the time with everyone else.

The one time they agreed to go out for ice-cream with them was because it was Akaya's turn and they didn't want to hurt his feelings. So they went. But when Marui went to slide in next to Niou, Yukimura practically pushed Sanada between them and then sat down. Marui had to sit on the other side of the booth and whenever he tried to tap Niou's foot, Yukimura kicked him. Yanagi and Sananda didn't say anything, but Yagyuu and Jackal had the oh-so-fun task of keeping Akaya out of the loop.

Overall, it sucked.

So, yeah, they did have more fun by themselves most of the time. They always had in a way. But when Akaya's turn came up in the cycle, they had to keep him from feeling as though the time was falling apart at the seams. Of course, that meant they had to go to…

"Why the fudge are we at the zoo?" Niou asked, not wanting to run laps around the tiger cage for saying, well, what he would usually say.

Akaya frowned and tilted his head at his sempai. "Why not?"

"Because we're not two."

"Neither am I, but that doesn't mean I can't go to the zo –penguins!" Akaya grabbed Marui by the wrist and began to drag him over to the exhibit.

Niou went to follow them since Sanada, Yanagi, Yagyuu, and Jackal were off looking for maps (they really should have gotten the ones at the front gate), but Yukimura grabbed the trickster's wrist.

"Don't worry," Niou snapped before Yukimura could say anything. "I'm not going to have hot monkey sex in front of penguins. I may be dating him, but that doesn't mean I'm fudging him. I_ do_ have morals."

Yukimura narrowed his eyes dangerously, but let go of his wrist. Niou smirked and went into the penguin exhibit, humming the tune to "How Do You Like Me Now?" by Toby Keith. It seemed to fit.

Once Niou got inside the exhibit, he caught up with Marui and Akaya. Even though Akaya was pulling Marui by the wrist and pointing out every little penguin (even the ones having sex; Akaya thought they were fighting), Niou was right next to Marui, lacing his fingers with his as they walked step for step.

It was a good trip, even if it was to the zoo.

* * *

**A/N: I really like writing these little things. They keep my mind clear of all the Niou/Marui fluff. Plus, since there is no real story line, I can have totally random ass moments like the zoo! I haven't been to the zoo since my friend's b-day party in 7****th**** grade. Half the people there looked at us like we were on crack (I'm not!) because we were acting so stupid. We saw polar bears mating (they had a sign that said "POLAR BEAR MATING SEASON" WTF?) and this little girl screamed, "They're kissing!" Ah… young innocence. Then there was the "horny thing" that was really just a goat-type-thing with horns.**

**Wow, so, yeah, go to the zoo! Protect endangered species (we did biodiversity in biology and there are so many cool things out there)! My newest favorite animal is the nudibranch which is a cute little aquatic sea slug.**


	6. Chapter 6

**- 6 -**

"Niou. Marui."

Said boys groaned from their spot on the bench. Yukimura's voice used to be just a voice, but now it meant hell. Tennis was becoming more of a chore than a hobby. Did them being together really piss Yukimura off enough to make them want to kill him?

"Play a match."

Apparently so.

They grabbed their racquets and glared at Yukimura as they walked to the open courts. Everyone began to point and whisper. One boy yelled, "Fags!" and Yukimura didn't lift a finger. Sanada was standing right next to Yukimura and he gave a noticeable flinch. Sanada wasn't exactly okay with the whole Niou and Marui going out thing, but he didn't let it come between the team. Yukimura was letting it come between _everything_.

But they would suffer like men!

Or like idiots.

No one was really sure which one to call them.

Yukimura watched as Niou and Marui played each other. There were no smart remarks, just Niou winning a one set match 6 – 3.

"Anything else, Yukimura?" Niou asked as he wiped the sweat off of his face with his shirt.

Yukimura was silent for a moment, said, "Run ten laps, Niou, you're getting slow. Marui, fifty squats and fifty more if you don't feel the burn," and then stormed off.

Niou and Marui looked at each other, but then Marui sighed and went off to the sides to do his squats. He'd be damned if he let Yukimura get to him now.

.

After practice, Yagyuu asked Niou if he wanted to go out for burgers. "Mind if Marui comes?" Niou asked. Yagyuu shrugged and Niou told him to wait a minute. Niou looked over at Marui who had just finished changing.

"Yagyuu and I are getting burgers. You and Jackal wanna come?"

Marui looked over at Jackal who shrugged. Marui turned back to Niou and nodded. "Sure." But he turned back to Jackal. "Wait, you're okay with hanging out with gay guys?"

Jackal just gave Marui a look. A look that meant Marui was out of his mind crazy.

"I've been your partner since I started tennis. I don't care if you're gay, green, black, white, or lesbian. And yes I am aware that is impossible. But you get my point. I. Don't. Care."

Marui smiled. "Good."

Niou looked over at Yagyuu who answered his question before he could even ask it. "Niou-kun, I've _been_ you before. You think I didn't know?"

Niou smirked and then the four of them grabbed their bags and left without saying another word; they didn't even tell Yukimura they weren't going to the café with the rest of the regulars. They headed into town, chatting and laughing at random things as they walked into the burger joint. It looked like one of those old diners. It even had a jukebox. They placed their orders and then sat down at the booth in the corner.

Yagyuu took a sip from his soda and then looked at his partner. Yagyuu was on the outside, Niou and Marui were in the center, and then Jackal was on the other end next to Marui. Even though Yagyuu was talking to Niou and Jackal was talking to Marui, Niou and Marui were holding hands underneath the table.

Niiou reached over and grabbed a few of Yagyuu's fries, putting two out of out his mouth like a walrus. "Guess who." The words sounded more like "gas boo," but everyone at the table couldn't help but laugh when Marui said, "Tezuka" with a straight face.

They could talk and act like everyone was normal because it was. Nothing had changed, besides Marui's thighs – they burned more hell's fire and brimstone.

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**A/N: I really don't have any comments on this one besides that I'm updating insanely fast because I have finals next week and I don't feel like studying :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**- 7 -**

Niou was religious.

It was odd to think about it, but, yeah, he did believe that something along the way had to be getter than everyone else. He didn't really go to religious ceremonies, but he did pray at night. He prayed for his sickly grandmother and he prayed for his family. He didn't even know if he was doing it right. He just sat on his bed, closed his eyes, and talked. He even did it at other people's houses.

In secret, of course.

He would wait for Marui to go into the bathroom to brush his teeth and then he would get down on the sleeping bag or futon or whatever the heck he was sleeping on that night. He closed his eyes and just talked, like he was talking to a friend.

But, the thing is, Marui knew Niou was religious.

He never said anything because Niou Masaharu did not look religious in any way. He certainly didn't talk like a religious boy, but Marui knew he was. He liked listening to Niou talk whoever or whatever was out there. Instead of going to brush his teeth, he would close the door and stand outside it, pressing his ear up against the door and listening to Niou's words.

When Niou was done he would just sit there, usually fiddling with his phone or staring at the ceiling until Marui came back. Marui would rush off to the bathroom after Niou was gone, swish mouth wash quickly, and hurried back.

They both had secrets.

Niou was religious, and Marui never got to brush his teeth when Niou spent the night.

But they liked it like that.

* * *

**A/N: I'm probably not updating at all this week (well, maybe Friday) because I have finals and I'm going to be so freakin' tired when I get home.**


	8. Chapter 8

**- 8 -**

"Pooky?"

Niou shook his head.

"Ni-poo?"

Oh Lord, they were _not_ having this conversation.

"Monkey?"

Oh Lord, they _were_ having this conversation!

"Darling? Or, if you wanted, the southern version: darlin'?"

Niou didn't do anything.

"Honey-bear?"

Niou just blinked. He was on his bed, a pillow beneath his stomach, and Marui was leaning against the opposite wall. A few pizza boxes and bottles of mountain dew were scattered between them, but no drugs were. Marui was acting like there should be drugs.

"What about Ni-ni?" Marui suggested. "Oh, I got a good one: Pumpkin!"

Niou shook his head and finally had enough sense to stop Marui. "I know you want nicknames, but I'm not letting you call me girly names. At least make it manly like… Hunk-muffin!"

Marui's eyes twinkled.

Niou smacked his own forehead.

Marui pouted and crawled over to the bed, resting his chin right by Niou's face. "But couples with nicknames are cuuuute. I want to be able to do that."

"You want to embarrass me to death?"

Marui nodded rapidly.

"How about you try calling me by my name then?" Niou suggested. He liked the thought of Marui saying his name.

"Niou?" Marui tilted his head and Niou smacked him playfully.

"My given name, stupid!" Niou had to bit his cheek to keep himself from laughing.

"Masaharu?" Niou nodded slowly. Marui pressed his lips together then sighed. "Ni-ni's cuter…"

Niou had given up. He pinched Marui's nose despite the red head's protests as he explained his offer. "One date, whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it as long as you drop the embarrassing nicknames. Got it?" Niou let go of his nose.

Marui thought for a second. "Deal." He lifted his head and pecked Niou's lips. "Just don't go back on your word 'cause if you do, I'm calling you Ni-ni everywhere we go."

Niou smiled and rolled onto his side, his face right on front of Marui's. "I have no doubt that you would, you sick little puppy." He pressed his lips up against Marui's and noticed how it tasted like pizza and mountain dew. But he couldn't complain because it tasted like Marui.

* * *

**A/N: I always add in pizza and mountain dew in Niou/Marui fics, don't I? **

**Anyways, my finals are over and they sucked, but I got a B in US history, an A in health, biolgy, and math. That means I still have a 4.0 GPA :D**

**Congratulate me with some comments?**


	9. Chapter 9

**- 9 -**

"Out of the fucking way, it's mine bitch!" Niou yelled at the top of his lungs, nearly jumping off Marui's bed onto the floor.

Marui elbowed Niou and yelled, "No way in hell!"

Niou threw his hands up into the air as Pikachu broke the smash ball. Marui groaned and began attacking Pikachu with Ike's sword. Then a huge thunderbolt killed him and just as his character was about to be revived, time ran out.

"Yes!" Niou yelled in victory as he slipped the wii remote off his wrist and got off the bed. He stood in-between the TV and the bed and began to do one of those stupid dances that teenagers do whenever they score a touchdown, little disco moves and all.

Marui rolled his eyes and turned off the wii before slipping the wrist strap off. "Idiot."

Niou stopped dancing and put his hands on his hips. "Sore loser."

Marui snorted. "Douche bag idiot."

That's when Niou took his hands off his hips and dove onto Marui's bed. "You're just jealous of my mad skills."

Marui pressed his lips together and lied down, rolling onto his stomach next to Niou. "You're brawl skills or your dancing skills?"

"Both." Niou smiled so big his teeth showed.

Marui pulled Niou's rat tail. Niou slapped his hand away. Marui tugged his hand back and sat up, Niou doing the same a second later.

"Why do you even have that thing?" Marui asked, pointing to the strand of hair tied back behind Niou's head. "You didn't have one last year."

"Well, there wasn't a rumor going around about you liking girls with long hair last year."

Marui tilted his head. "You grew that little thing for me?"

Niou shrugged. "Sort of. At first it was to piss my mom off, then I heard that rumor and just decided to keep it out."

"You don't need long hair to impress me," Marui said as he crawled over to Niou. He kissed him softly. "You already have me, and I'm going anywhere. Not for a long time."

Niou smiled and kissed him back. "Good, but it's grown on me. I reminds me that there's always been something with you, something that I'll never forget."

Marui pulled the strand of hair out from behind Niou and set it over his shoulder, its tip laying by his upper chest. Marui hummed.

"I like it, too." Marui smirked mischievously. "But I like you more."

* * *

**A/N: I also have the next chapter (I got inspiration so I wrote) so I'll post it tomorrow.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**- 10 -**

Niou stared down at the assignment for his film class while swiveling back and forth on Marui's desk chair. Marui and Niou did homework together every day, but film class was an elective, an elective that Marui didn't chose (of course). So, unfortunately, Niou was out of luck. He had to make a movie that would be shown to the whole class. As if that wasn't enough pressure, the best would be showed to the third year class.

"Any ideas on what the hell I could make a movie on?" Niou asked Marui who was sitting on his bed with a bio book.

Marui looked up. "I don't know. You're the smart one."

"I'm not smart."

"Psh! You're perfect!"

"I'm not perfect." That's when it hit Niou. He stood up, grabbed his assignment, bag, and ran out the door yelling, "Eureka!"

.

Sometime next week, an assembly was held for the third year students in the auditorium. Niou's film class was in the front row. Marui sat a few rows behind them, figuring they were showing the best video. A screen rolled down and then a project lit up the screen with a picture of a rather nervous girl holding a card that read:

_I'm afraid of pineapples. I was going to draw one, but I was too scared._

The whole room broke into laughter. Then a picture of another girl, Miki, the girl whose boyfriend cheated on her a few weeks ago, showed up and she was also holding a card. But her shoulder's sleeve was pulled down, showing a large scare.

_I love my scare that made him hate me._

Everyone knew who "him" was. It was Inoue, the guy who had cheated on her. The next picture was of a rather large girl who no one recognized. She was probably just some girl off the street.

_I'm not fat. I'm voluptuous._

Next was a picture of a first year with blue eyes.

_I like my mom's American ways._

The next picture surprised Marui. It was Jackal and a two of his friends, one was American and one was Japanese. They were all holding a card.

_Our skin colors are our proudest flaws._

A picture of a girl with a little pink tank top, she was no older than six, with freckles covering her face, shoulders and neck, was wearing a huge smile and a card that read:

_My beauty marks mark me as beautiful._

The next one was of a flat girl; her body turned like in a mug shot just to show that she didn't have a chest. Everyone in the room recognized her, though. She was Akira. Akira with C cup breasts.

_I love my real body._

The pictures went on and on. From little old ladies on the street to little kids. Half of them were just random people on the street, but some were of people in the school.

_I'm a guy and I call my G-I-Joe a doll._

_I like boys and girls._

_Two different eye colors rock your socks!_

_I'm a girl with a girlfriend._

_I think my big nose is cool._

_I write poetry, really bad poetry!_

_Imperfections are perfection._

_I can't grow a beard and I'm thirty two._

_Holey-moley I love my mole!_

_I embrace my braces._

_I am beautiful no matter what the magazines say._

_Ghostly pale, mostly awesome._

Then the pictures suddenly stopped, and Niou's face popped up. He was in his living room, sitting on a sofa while the camera was set on a table. He had a little remote in his hand and he was looking straight at the camera. He grabbed a piece of paper off the sofa cushion and held it up.

_Everything you don't like about yourself someone else loves you for._

He set the paper down and grabbed another.

_We all have secrets and flaws._

Another paper.

_Even me._

Another paper, this time with a list.

_I can't talk on camera because I hate my voice._

_I do math for fun even if it's geeky._

_I can put my foot behind my head._

_I don't have hair on my feet._

_Pickles and peanut butter taste awesome._

_I wear tight jeans because it feels like I'm not wearing pants._

_I fell in love with my best friend._

He set down the paper and smiled. Then he held the remote up and turned off the camera. The last thing before the crowd started clapping was:

_Produced by Niou Masaharu._

Then the projector shut off and everyone clapped. The film teacher stood up and gestured for Niou to follow her onto the stage. He smiled to himself and stood up. She stood next to him and he stood behind of the podium.

"If any of those flaws applied to you, stand up." No one stood up. "Marui, you're afraid of 'my little pony' horses. Yukimura, you're a homophobe with a fear of failure. Sanada, you're afraid of being alone because you're scared you'll make the wrong choices. Yagyuu, you're afraid of the dark and sleep with a nightlight."

The room burst into laughter as the four boys stood up. But the laughter stopped when Niou continued.

"Henry Miller once said 'the imperfections of a man, his frailties, his faults, are just as important as his virtues. You can't separate them. They're wedded.' No one in this room is perfect. I'm a trickster, and I don't trick myself into believe that I'm perfect. No one is. No one is meant to be. Stand. Up."

Slowly, one by one, people began to stand up. And, eventually, the whole third year class was standing up and clapping as Niou got off the stage.

.

Marui and Niou were walking home together, like always, when Marui said, "You may not be perfect and I may be the farthest thing from perfect, but we are perfect together because our little flaws and secrets."

"Marui, I need to tell you something." Niou reached over, grabbing Marui's hand, lacing his fingers with his. "I pray at night."

Marui smiled. "I know."

"I really do think pickles and peanut butter are awesome."

Marui's smile grew bigger. "I know."

"I like feeling like I'm not wearing pants."

"I know."

"I'm afraid to visit my dying grandmother because I'm afraid she'll be disappointed in me."

"I know."

"I really did fall in love with my best friend."

Marui smiled and swung their hands between their bodies. "I know. But do you know that I fell in love with my best friend, too?"

"I didn't know."

Marui stopped walking and turned to face Niou. Niou did the same and Marui stretched his neck out, brushing his lips up against Niou's.

"Now you know."

Niou nodded. "I'm glad I know."

* * *

**A/N: I'm not perfect either.**

**Flaw: I have terrible acne.**

**Secret: I'm jealous of stupid people because they can see a movie and not subconsciously figure out how it ends within the first ten minutes.**

**This chapter is actually based off a thing our school does called "Stand Up." They made us write a secret on a card and then people held the cards up (you couldn't see their faces) and they made a power point of them to help unite us. Some of them were pretty surprising (like rape, abuse, homosexuality, etc…) but some of them were funny as hell (the pineapple one was from my school!). **

**An another note (if anyone is still reading this and hasn't died yet, congratulations!) I have no idea when I'll be updating. The start of my new semester is this Tuesday so I won't be that swamped, but I don't really have any idea what to write next. I'll think of something, though.  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**- 11 -**

Marui groaned as Niou grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the building.

"But I don't want to," Marui whined.

His mother hadn't been able to get Marui to go in, so she called Niou. He had an appointment there, too, so it wasn't that much of an inconvenience.

"Shut up."

Marui pouted and cringed as Niou pushed the door open. He began to walk backwards, making the two look like a failing comedy duo.

"You'll never take me alive!" Marui yelled as Niou rolled his eyes and opened another door to…

The dentist?

Niou went over to the counter, ignoring the looks of the people in the waiting room. He quickly checked in and then practically shoved Marui into the seat next to him.

"I hate the dentist," Marui told Niou again. "They always yell at me about not flossing and not brushing and eating too many sweets."

"But you don't floss or brush and you do eat too many sweets," Niou reminded him.

Marui rolled his eyes and waved his hand. "Detail details. How can you like this place? It smells… _weird_."

"I've never had a cavity before," Niou said proudly. "That's why."

Figures, Marui thought as the door opened again.

"Niou Masaharu. Marui Bunta," the woman called.

Niou stood up and glared down at Marui. Marui sighed and stood up, time to face death in the face.

.

Marui was dancing around Niou as he walked down the streets, singing, "Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa-ha!"

Niou wanted to punch him.

Or strangle him with Yukimura's headband.

Or punch him then strangle him with Yukimura's headband.

"Will you shut up?" Niou snapped.

Marui smiled and practically broke Niou's personal-space-bubble with that last finger poke to the face. "But I don't have any cavities and you have two! Ha!"

Niou rolled his eyes. "Shut up and eat your goddamn lollipop."

Who would have thought dentists gave out lollipops?

Marui reached into his pocket and looked down at the lollipop. He would save it for later. Instead he grabbed Niou's shoulders and jumped up and down in joy.

"But I'm cavity freeeeeee!"

Niou shouldn't have taken the candy addict to the dentist and expected anything less than things to go complete and utterly wrong (like at Nationals). But he wasn't complaining. Two cavities for that red head's smile? He'd take _ten_ to see his boyfriend that happy.

* * *

**A/N: So I've never had a cavity until today. FML. I wanted to kill the dentist. Oh, and to make it oh so fun, I have two! Yippy…**

**Oh, and remember how I mentioned I started a new semester and that it would be easy? PSHT! EASY MY ASS! I'm going to freakin' FAIL Spanish III – the only good thing about the class is that my crush sits right next to me (yeshhhh). Anyways, I'm hyper and stuff…**


	12. Chapter 12

**- 12 -**

"Masaharu!" Niou's mother called. "We're going to visit Nana, are you coming this time?"

Niou was in his room on his bed having just finished getting dressed for bed, the door closed but not locked (he knew his family wouldn't come in), ipod blaring "My List" by Toby Keith. He pulled his headphones out and thought for a second. See his sick grandmother that he hasn't had to guts to see in three years, or jam out and do math homework?

Well, one of those was not going to happen.

"I have a lot of homework, maybe next time!" he called back.

He could almost see his mother frown as she said, "You always have homework, Masaharu. Besides, what if this is the last time?"

"Then let her know that I'm passing," Niou yelled before putting his headphones back in.

His mother sighed and grabbed her coat. She looked at her other children and her husband and shrugged. Niou's father sighed and put on a hat as he opened the door. Just as he did he saw Marui going to knock.

"Marui-kun, right?" his father asked.

Marui nodded, slightly surprised at seeing Niou's whole family at the door. "I was just wondering if Niou wanted to watch some movies. If you're going out to dinner, then I can leave or –"

His mother smiled and patted his shoulder. "Come in. Stay as long as you'd like. Masaharu doesn't seem to talk to me anymore, but he talks to you and smiles when he talks about you. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it."

Marui nodded and moved out of the way as four Niou's walked by him. He stepped inside, slipping his shoes off and closing the door behind him. He went into the kitchen, helped himself to some mountain dew and cold pizza from a few nights ago before hurrying upstairs.

Niou's door was closed and he could hear someone talking… singing? He cracked the door and when he saw Niou's , he opened the door completely, leaning in the door way.

"_Go for a walk, say a little prayer  
Take a deep breath of mountain air  
Put on my glove and play some catch  
It's time that I make time for that"_

Niou was wearing his sister's old, pink, fuzzy, leopard print PJ pants and a white T-shirt. He had his ipod in his hand while his hips were swaying with the words he was singing. Only Niou could dance like that to country music. Only Niou could do dorky Macarena cool moves and make it 2010 cool. Only Niou could make Marui smile like that.

"_Wade the shore and cast a line  
Look up a long lost friend of mine  
Sit on the porch and give my girl a kiss  
Start livin', that's the next thing on my list"_

Niou turned around and stopped mid-old-man-disco-point. His jaw was down and Marui could hear the music from his headphones.

"Sweet moves," Marui said with a smile.

Niou turned a bit red, and then he started dancing again. This time slower with his eyes half closed. Marui's smile grew bigger as he walked up to Niou and put one hand on his shoulder and one on his hip. Niou felt one of his headphones leave his ear as Marui put it into his. Niou did the same thing with his hands after that, one on Marui's hip and one on his shoulder.

Niou began to sing the words again and Marui joined in.

" …_things like pushin' my kid on the backyard swing  
I won't break my back for a million bucks I can't take to my grave  
So why put off for tomorrow what I could get done today?"_

"Hey, Niou," Marui said as chorus began again. "What's next on your list?"

Niou opened his eyes completely and leaned in closer to Marui. "This," he said before he pressed his lips up against Marui's. It was soft and tender even when Niou ran both of his hands through Marui's red hair.

Niou pulled his head back and asked the same thing, "What's next on your list?"

Marui brushed his lips up against Niou's, pulled his head back an inch and breathed, "Telling you that I love you," into his mouth before kissing him again. "I love you," he told him after breaking the kiss.

"I love you more than you will ever know."

"I thought Niou Masaharu didn't love."

Niou pressed his forehead up against Marui's. "I already told you, I fell in love with my best friend. Just who did you think that was? Yagyuu?"

Marui and Niou both laughed at the thought.

* * *

**A/N: I'm getting an essay a night. I know I'll get a lot more later on in my education, but this just sucks! Anyways, I'm still making an effort to put this chapters out, so leave me a little review?**

**Also, my town is supposed to get like two feet of snow so I'll be writing a lot this weekend (plus I have like no homework), so stay on the lookout for updates to this story and to "A Vampire's Lullaby" which is my other current story.**


	13. Chapter 13

**- 13 -**

Marui was over at Niou's house just sitting on the futon Niou's mom had set out for him, while Niou was on his bed. Marui yawned and stood up.

"Going to brush your teeth?" Niou asked as Marui reached for his bookbag. He nodded and made a noise as he opened up the front pocket, pulling out a toothbrush and some toothpaste. He always kept it in his bookbag for when he spent the night at Niou's house. He also left extra clothes at his house, too.

"Be right back," Marui mumbled as he went into the hall.

Niou knew Marui was just going to stand outside, Marui had told him that a couple of days ago, but he still liked pretending as though Marui hadn't said it. It made him feel more at peace that way as he slide off the bed and onto the futon. He rolled his shoulders and got on his knees, closing his eyes.

"Lord, I still don't if just saying 'Lord' will get you to listen, but I like to think that it does. If I need to say something special to get you to listen, then I don't want that. I want to believe that you're one of us – a man on the bus or the lady at the store."

Marui closed his eyes and pressed his ear up against to door. He could almost see Niou biting his lip in his mind.

"I have only ever asked two things of you: keep my family safe and let my grandmother rest in peace when it's her time to go. So, please, make this things reality. I don't believe in miracles, but I believe in happiness and love."

He actually was biting his lip now as he got off his knees. He stood up and flopped onto his bed. "Well, I'm done… Bye."

Niou didn't know how to start something, nor did he know how to end something, but he always knew what to do in between. Maybe that was why he didn't start this relationship or any relationship for that matter. But, if that was true, that also meant that Niou wouldn't end it.

Marui smiled at the thought as he went down the hall to swish mouth wash.

He still refused to brush his teeth.

* * *

**A/N: Gah. I meant to make this chapter good, but I was listening to Paramore and I got this idea for my AU stuck in my head so I went to write that… I came back to this chapter and tried to keep writing and I was like "Crap. Where was I going with that?"**

**Anyways, I have school off again tomorrow so maybe I'll update my AU (Vampire's Lullaby - I'm thinking of changing it to "Bite Me") and I might update this depending on whether or not I get a good idea. I have something in mind, but I'm not really sure if I want to post it at this point (or write it for that matter).**

**Oh, I'm also posting a little one-shot tomorrow because it's someone's b-day :D **


	14. Chapter 14

**- 14 -**

Niou sighed and sat down at the booth in the ice-cream shop. He hated that stupid promise. "I'll go on a date whether you want," he had said. "Just don't call me Ni-ni." He'd take Ni-ni over sharing a milkshake in a very public ice-cream shop any day.

Marui slide in across from him and set a milkshake between them.

"I'll allergic to chocolate," Niou lied.

Marui stuck two straws in it and glared at his boyfriend. "You're allergic to strawberries, not chocolate."

Niou pouted. "Please don't make me do this."

"Why, does Niou Masaharu has a fear for public affection?"

"Just when it's with you," he mumbled.

Marui rolled his eyes and took a sip of the milkshake. "It tastes good, just drink it."

"No."

"Drink the damn milkshake."

Niou sighed and grabbed the glass cup. He slid it over to him, pulled out one of the two straws and tossed it onto the floor not caring who had to pick it up, and took a long sip. Then he suddenly let go of the cup and grabbed his head.

"Brain freeze," he hissed. After Marui's laughter and the pain had passed, Niou slide the cup back over to Marui. "It's a sign of God that I should not drink it with you."

"Ni-ni."

Niou grabbed the cup and just as he finished taking in as much as he could, he felt someone slide into the booth next to him. He would have yelled, but when he turned and saw Akaya, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"What?" Niou asked.

"I came to talk to you guys."

Niou blinked. "Wait. Did you follow us here?"

Akaya shook his head as Niou made room for him. "No! Yanagi-sempai told me you two were coming."

"Remind me to kill that guy," Marui mumbled.

"So, what do you need?" Niou asked again.

Akaya stared down at the table and turned a little pink. "Well, some girls were saying that you called buchou a homophobe."

Marui raised an eyebrow and went to say something, but Akaya kept talking.

"Well, is that true?"

Niou and Marui looked at each other. "Uh…"

"I know about you two, I'm not_ that_ stupid," he told them.

Niou sighed and grabbed the milkshake (it actually tasted pretty good, though he wouldn't admit it). "He doesn't say we should rot in Hell, but he's working us more and can't look us in the eye. So, yeah, I called him a homophobe. He basically admitted to it by standing up, too."

"Standing up?" Akaya asked.

Marui waved his hand and leaned so his elbows were on the table. "Long story. So, why do you care if Yukimura's a homophobe?"

"Well, I was thinking that since he doesn't like sweet things and always feels bad about throwing out all the chocolate he gets from Valentine's Day that I would get him some dark chocolate nuts – something less sweet. But I don't want him to think I'm gay…"

"Are you gay?" Niou asked curiously.

Akaya turned bright red and gripped his jeans.

Marui looked at Niou, shook his head, then back at Akaya. "Why do you think you're gay?"

"Well, a boy in the locker room said that if I liked looking at other guys then I was a fag."

"Do you like looking at other guys, Akaya?"

Akaya didn't say anything for a minute. "Sometimes… Just buchou."

"Well, Akaya, my advice would be to give him the chocolate and just tell him the truth. Besides, who knows, maybe he'll change his ways for you," Marui told him, trying to give him hope, even if he knew that was never going to happen.

Akaya gave a small smile. "Really?"

Marui nodded. "Yup."

"Well, um, thanks!" Akaya stood up and hurried out the door.

Niou grabbed the milkshake and took a sip before saying, "Why did you lie to him? Yukimura won't change for him."

"I didn't tell someone that I liked them for a long time because I was afraid they would turn me down. Turns out, just taking that jump can be worth it."

Niou smiled and took another sip, looking out the window. "Let's hope that jump is worth it for Akaya, too, because I'm glad you took your jump."

"Oh, I'm still jumping," Marui told him as he grabbed the milkshake out of his boyfriend's hand and spilled it all over the table.

"Shit," Marui mumbled.

Niou laughed. "Another sign from God that Ni-ni is a terrible nickname."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I totally forgot about Ni-ni, and then I accidentally opened up the wrong chapter and saw that. I was like "SHIT!" then I had to write this. Oh, and (on a fun note), I'm off until next Wednesday – we have the rest of the week off for snow, then Monday and Tuesday off for President's day.**

**But, yeah, this fic will have my Valentine's Day entry. I was going to do a Marui/Akaya one-shot, but all of my one-shots are either written so late at night that they make no sense or take me weeks to get started. Yeah… I'm just doing it on this fic.**


	15. Chapter 15

**- 15 -**

Marui hated Valentine's Day. Not only was it a hassle to give all of those girls gifts of White Day, but they all got him bubble gum. He chewed gum, yes, but not _bubble_ gum. The stuff was for little kids who chewed gum because getting caught chewing it was cool. He chewed it for the minty goodness and the occasional fruit blast. Yet, here he was, walking to practice with three bags of double bubble bubble gum crap.

And they called themselves their fangirls.

But, even thought he hated Valentine's Day for the most part, he still liked seeing Niou waiting outside the clubroom for him. He had an unwrapped piece of mint gum and held it out. Marui snapped it with his teeth and let out a content sigh.

"Thank you," he said with an overdramatic sigh.

As Niou gave a "No problem," and opened the clubroom door. The second he did Yukimura screamed, "Marui, spit out that gum!"

"But, Yukimura –"

"No buts. Spit it out."

Niou pulled Yukimura aside as Marui went to his locker. "Yukimura, he needs the gum."

"Why?"

"Mint gum for that post blowjob breath."

Yukimura gagged, then realized Niou was joking, rolled his eyes, and went to change as far away from Niou as possible. Marui was at his locker and Jackal was kindly spinning his combination for him. As the door opened thousands of pieces of gum came out. Marui groaned and drop the bags.

"I give up," he said with a sigh. He reached around what gum was still left and grabbed his uniform.

Just then, the clubroom door opened up and Akaya walked in. Marui and Niou froze in place and watched as he walked up to Yukimura's locker. His shirt was unbuttoned and he was struggling to undo his pants as Akaya asked, "Can we talk?"

"What do you want to talk about, Akaya?" Yukimura asked, finally unbuttoning his pants. He pulled his shirt off the whole way and that's when Akaya blushed. He reached into his pocket and held out a small bag of chocolate.

"I don't eat chocolate, Akaya," Yukimura said softly. "Besides, it'd be rude to Indian give chocolates a girl gave you."

"I bought them, for you. They're nuts covered in dark chocolate."

Yukimura blinked and looked down at his junior. Then he suddenly realized Akaya had gotten taller and they were eye-level. He took the candy from Akaya's hands and opened it up. He pulled out a small piece and chewed it. He smiled.

"Thanks, Akaya," he said as he tied the top back up and knelt down to put them into his bag. "That was thoughtful."

"I like you," he said softly.

"I like you too?" Yukimura said back, equally soft, yet more confused. He stood up and continued to change.

"No. I mean… I like you like you. Like how those girls like you do."

Yukimura froze. "What?" he asked, turning to look at Akaya again.

"I said I like you, buchou."

"Akaya…" Yukimura didn't know what to say. He looked over at Marui and Niou who were standing there with their arms crossed. He looked back at Akaya who mumbled something.

"Akaya, what did you say?" Yukimura asked.

Akaya looked up and said, "Say no. I don't care. I'll still like you."

Yukimura didn't say anything; he just went back to changing.

On the way home from practice Niou and Marui were walking together – it was pizza night so they were going to Niou's house.

"I feel bad about Akaya," Marui mumbled. "I think it's my fault."

"It's not your fault."

"I mean, I told him he might get with Yukimura. We both knew that wouldn't happen."

"It's not your fault," Niou told him again.

"Why didn't I tell him this world sucks, that no one understands?"

Niou grabbed Marui's shoulder, pushed him into the concrete wall to their left, and pressed his lips up against his. Marui's knees buckled and he grabbed onto Niou's shoulders for support. When Niou pulled back Marui just blinked.

"Whoa."

"This world does not suck," Niou told him. "It is not your fault."

"Well, fine, it's partly my fault, but this world does suck."

Niou kissed him again, not caring if anyone saw. "This world is fine because it has you and me here. Together."

Marui finally regained his balance and reached behind Niou, pulled his rat tail, and began to walk towards Niou's house.

"Hey, Ni-ni," he joked. Niou rolled his eyes and began to walk again, already caught up to his boyfriend. Marui reached behind him and pulled a jar of peanut butter out of his bag. "You have pickles, right?"

Niou grabbed the jar and then looked at Marui. "I. Love. You." he said as he put his arm on Marui's shoulder. It's not like his parents would think how they were walking was weird so Niou didn't mind walking straight into his house gushing about how peanut butter and pickles tasted awesome.

"Do pickles and peanut butter really taste that good?" Marui asked as they walked into the kitchen.

Niou set the jar down, opened it, stuck his finger in it, and licked the peanut butter off. "Better than any amount of chocolate a girl could give me." Niou put what peanut butter was left on his finger on Marui's nose and kissed it off.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Marui laughed as Niou kissed his nose.

"I think I found where you're ticklish," Niou teased as he went to his fridge to grab a jar of pickles. "How did you fit that peanut butter in there with all that gum anyways?"

"Oh, well, you know how Yukimura rushed out of the locker-room after practice and you went outside to talk to Yagyuu?" Niou nodded as he dipped a pickle in the peanut butter. "Jackal and I decided to leave Yukimura a little Valentine of our own since he was such a jerk to Akaya."

"You stuck it in his locker?"

"It was totally Jackal's idea," Marui said right before Niou took that pickle into his mouth. "Ew."

"You know you'll love it," Niou said as he handed Marui a pickle covered in peanut butter. He looked at, closed his eyes, and then took a bite.

Then he gagged.

Apparently Niou's love for weird food is something that only pregnant woman should possess.

But he could deal with that as long as Niou's love for Marui was stronger.

* * *

**A/N: V-day is the 14****th****, right? I think it is… I don't know. I'm not big into this holiday (I am wearing red right now, though).  
**

**I'm thinking Akaya/Yukimura is my little side-plot. Not that this really has a plot.**


	16. Chapter 16

**- 16 -**

Marui was at Niou's house, the pizza boxes and cans of mountain dew lied forgotten on the floor as Niou and Marui moved into each other's arms on the bed. Marui was flat on his back, while Niou was lying on top of him, his forehead pressed up against the red head's.

"You know…" Niou began, kissing Marui quickly. "I didn't get you a Valentine's Day gift. It was so worried about Akaya that I completely forgot. Instead of waiting 'till White Day, I –"

"Get it."

Niou jumped off of Marui, leaned off the bed and pulled a box out from underneath the bed. He handed it to Marui and smiled as the red head tore the paper off.

"You got me –" Marui looked at it and tilted his head. "A picture frame? Where's the picture?"

Niou rolled his eyes. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flash drive. He grabbed the frame from Marui, walked over to the wall, pulled a cord into the outlet, and stuck the flash drive in the side. Marui crawled off the bed and towards Niou.

Then a picture popped up. It was of Marui in his "pimp" outfit from that time at that small shop. Niou was in his wig and kissing Marui on the cheek. Marui rubbed his neck – he had given him a very noticeable hickey that was hard to explain to his parents. He had told them that he got hit with a tennis ball – they believed him.

"Digital picture frame. You just put the pictures on the flash drive or hook it up to your laptop and the slideshow will start," Niou explained.

The next picture was Niou holding up that card, the one that listed his flaws and what he didn't like. It also said he fell in love with his best friend. Marui smiled.

The next picture was from when Marui was younger, a first year in junior high. Niou and Marui were friends back then, but Niou had yet to join the tennis team, so it was Marui in his uniform and Niou is street clothes. Those were fun times, Marui thought back.

As the pictures continued, Marui and Niou lied down in front of the frame and watched each one going by. Sometimes telling a little story or sharing a memory. There were a few pictures of Marui's family – Niou told him he asked his brother for them. Figures, Marui thought.

The last picture in the seemingly endless cycle was a picture that Marui had never seen. It was a picture of their team, but he didn't remember taking it. They were all at the hospital, sitting on Yukimura's bed.

"I don't remember this," Marui mumbled. "Why is it crooked?"

"We set our bags one on top of the other and they began to slip just as the camera flashed. That's probably why half of our mouths are open."

The picture switched and Niou unplugged it. He wrapped the cord around it and set it up on his dresser, which was next to the outlet, for Marui to take with him when he left tomorrow.

"You just had to include Yukimura," Marui mumbled. "I don't even remember visiting him once. I mean, there was the time when Sanada lost, but other than that –"

"The picture was taken right after he was admitted. Remember? We were all waiting in the hospital, thought he would get out, and you wanted a picture to tease him with. We didn't know anything was seriously wrong then."

Marui must have blocked that memory out of his head. He blocked out most of that year, it had hurt too much. He had been through too much. The team had been through too much.

"I guess I remember," Marui mumbled, watching Niou crawl over to his soda which was by the bed.

Niou shrugged and took a long sip. "Just don't block me out. I want to haunt the fuck out of you even after we're through."

"Who said we need to be through?" Marui asked, not liking the idea of Niou not being there to talk to.

Niou rolled his eyes, crawled back over, and kissed Marui.

"Mountain dew," Marui mumbled, tasting and smelling it on Niou's lips.

"All I can taste is Marui."

Marui smirked and grabbed Niou by the back of the head, crashing their lips together.

* * *

**A/N: I meant to write this on Monday, but I got distracted and wrote a one-shot that turned into almost 6 thousand words. Urgh. I wrote this yesterday but forgot to post it (I was also doing a paper for class). Anyways, I just updated "Bite Me" (AKA - Vampire's Lullaby) and check out that one one-shot I wrote earlier in the week, "Madness."**


	17. Chapter 17

**- 17 -**

Niou swayed his hips, his hands by his upper chest as he moved to the right, his shoulders mimicking the small movement of his feet. Marui was right next to him, his shoulders moving more than his feet, though. The people in the hall looked at them as they moved forward… dancing.

"_To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right,"_ they said in their heads.

Now they started moving their shoulders and feet left, still slowly advancing towards the clubroom for practice. _"To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left."_

They stopped dancing, but still moved their shoulders as they kicked right, then left, then right, and left one last time in time with the song in their head. _"Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick."_

Then they began to walk forward, still swaying their hips. _ "Now walk it by yourself, now walk it by yourself."_

They laughed when a girl did a cat whistle and began to move right again.

"What are you doing?" Jackal asked, walking up behind his partner.

"Cupid shuffle," Marui said as they began to move left again. Jackal was following his partner like a dog as the two danced.

"Down, down, do your dance, do your dance," Niou sang.

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah," Marui echoed.

"Down, down, do your dance, do your dance," Niou sang again. Now Yagyuu had joined Jackal in the never-ending-watch-your-idiot-doubles-partner-dance walk towards the clubroom routine.

"A let me see ya do the cupid," Marui sang back.

"Are you two really doing the cupid shuffle?" Yagyuu asked.

Jackal glanced at Yagyuu. "You know the song?"

"I have a sister," Yagyuu reminded him.

Niou stopped singing and turned to look at his partner, still dancing, just backwards. "Oh you know you love it," Niou mocked shimming his chest in front of Yagyuu.

Marui turned around and rocked his upper body back and forth as he feet continued to move. "Come of Jackal, do the cupid."

Jackal rolled his eyes. Yagyuu pushed his up glasses.

Niou and Marui looked at each other and nodded. Within a second Marui had his hands on Jackal's wrists, forcing him to slide to the right three times, then the left. Niou had grabbed Yagyuu's hips, knowing Yagyuu would just scratch him with his nails even though he trimmed them like he cleaned his glasses. Niou pulled Yagyuu the right direction, then reached down a little lower to the back of his thighs and made him pull out his legs to kick four times.

"Niou-kun!" Yagyuu scolded, pulling back.

Niou stopped dancing and looked at Marui and Jackal. They were almost towards the clubroom, walking and swaying hip-to-hip. Niou looked at his partner and rolled his eyes. Yagyuu didn't say anything, so Niou began to dance after his boyfriend and his partner. Then, unexpectedly, he heard the sound of footsteps behind.

Niou turned around and raised an eyebrow, swaying his hips even more than he had before. "You kinky little nerd, sliding after me like that, Yagyuu."

Yagyuu rolled his eyes and kicked in time with Niou. Niou smirked. "Looks like I'm rubbing off on you," he mumbled.

"Or something," Yagyuu replied, a small smile playing on his own lips.

Niou stopped dancing to ask, "What does that mean?" Yagyuu didn't answer, he simply walked by, hitting Niou's hip as he did his last slide to the right.

What the hell?

Marui hollered as him and Jackal made turned around, cheering Yagyuu on.

"Come on, Niou!" Marui yelled, his toothy smile reaching his ears.

Niou didn't feel like dancing anymore. But he did anyways. He wasn't sure if it was to see Marui smile, or to follow Yagyuu as he swayed his hips like that.

* * *

**A/N: Does anyone else know the song/dance? It's pretty catchy, though kind of stupid at the same time. **

**The whole Yagyuu thing was totally random, but, hey, I need some (as I call them) plot-pushers.**


	18. Chapter 18

**- 18 -**

It was a normal day at practice. Akaya, Niou, and Marui had Yukimura pointing out every flaw they made. Jackal and Yagyuu, as well as Sanada and Yanagi, knew that Niou and Marui could deal with Yukimura. But Akaya? That was a different story.

"You're pathetic! You expect to run this team? I'd be better off flunking and leaving Niou and Marui in charge of the high school team!" Yukimura's voice caused the courts to freeze. Akaya looked down at the ground. Marui popped a bubble. "Marui! Spit out that gum!"

Akaya mumbled something.

Yukimura leaned down, pressing his ear right in front of Akaya's mouth. "What was that? Did you say something, Kirihara?"

Akaya went rigid at the sound of his surname coming out of his captain's lips. He had always been "Akaya-kun" or "Akaya." Even when Yukimura first meet him.

Akaya shook his head, his hair covering his eyes. "No, sir."

"Good," Yukimura said, standing back up straight and crossing his arms. "Now get out of my sight and do something productive."

Akaya nodded, his hands fumbling to hold his racquet as he sprinted towards the clubroom, leaving small blotches of water as he ran.

Sanada shook his head and Yanagi snapped his notebook shut as Yukimura walked towards them. "Do you have a problem with me?" Yukimura asked.

Sanada didn't say anything and Yanagi walked off to talk to some first years who were obviously confused as to the odd actions of their sempai.

Niou snorted and put an arm on Yagyuu's shoulder, using him as a support, completely forgetting what had happened when he tried to get Yagyuu to dance. "Is it just me or is Yukimura becoming a total jerk?" Niou asked, looking at Yagyuu.

Yagyuu looked at him, their faces barely an inch part. Yagyuu smiled and Niou pulled back. Then Yagyuu fixed his glasses and said, "It appears so, Niou-kun."

"Why do you call me 'Niou-kun?'" Niou asked. He had never asked before, oddly enough.

Yagyuu smiled and whispered, "I think we both know, _Niou-kun_," into his ear not a moment too soon – Jackal came running over with Marui on his back.

"Giddy up!" Marui yelled, smiling until Jackal dropped him.

"Jerk," Marui mumbled, standing up. He looped his arms around Niou's neck and kissed him quickly. Jackal whistled as he looked away and Yagyuu just plain out walked away. Niou looped an arm around Marui's waist when his boyfriend kept an arm draped on his shoulders.

"So," Niou said.

"So…" Marui nodded and Jackal pressed his lips together. "Sanada went to check on Akaya," Marui told Niou.

"I figured as much. He's always been cleaning up Yukimura's messes, but it seems like he's been busy," Niou said.

Jackal went on to add something, but Niou could only see Yagyuu talking Yanagi.

"You okay?" Marui asked, noticing Niou was a bit spacey.

Niou nodded and looked back at Marui. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, because it's pizza Friday!"

Niou smiled. He was just imagining things, he was with Marui, and Yagyuu definitely was not checking him out.

* * *

**A/N: Gah! I have so many ideas for this story, but I'm too lazy to write them. I'm working on the story that comes after this "The Guy Code" and it's taking all of my funny ideas away (it's a semi-crack, semi-serious, semi-romantic future fic). **

**Have any of you ever felt like you should be working on something but end up doing something else? I do that with homework.**

**Crap. I'm abusing A/N again -.-**


	19. Chapter 19

**Note: Marui's texts are in**_ italics _**while Niou's are **bold italics**. The grammar is meant to be wrong in the texts.**

* * *

**- 19 -**

Niou stared down at the paper on his desk. Instead of taking notes, he had drawn a vertical line. On one side he had Akaya, Marui, and himself (represented by little stick figures, of course). On the other side he had Yukimura, Sanada, Yanagi, and Jackal. He wrote "gay" over the side with his name and "straight" on the other. He tapped his pencil on the line and drew a little stick figure with glasses. He wrote "Yagyuu" underneath and circled it with a big "?" next to it.

He groaned and set his head against his head. Then he heard the teacher call his name. He looked up and saw that his teacher was pointing to a problem. Niou looked down at his nonexistent notes, did some quick mental math, and rambled off an answer. The teacher crossed his arms and began to teach again.

He felt his phone vibrate. A text, from Marui? He looked behind him to where Marui was sitting and looked at him like he was insane. Marui made gestures as though he were texting. Niou rolled his eyes and opened it up.

_whats wrong?_

Niou sighed. This was the last thing he needed right now. But he typed back anyways.

_**Yagyuu**_

Niou waited a second.

_is he seeing someone?_

_**No**_

_then whats wrong?_

Niou sighed and looked up at the teacher – either they didn't see or didn't care.

**It's swinter and he has allergies**

_swinter?_

**Spring/winter its cold but its all rainy**

_oh _

Niou didn't type anything back. He honestly hated text – he never knew what to say. Instead he wait for class to end. When it did, he dragged Marui into the stairwell. Being late to practice was okay necessary. This was necessary.

"I'm not making out up here," Marui said when Niou dragged him up to the roof.

Niou sat down against the chain link fence and dug through his bag. He found his ipod and stuck on headphone it, leaving the other one to hang. Marui sighed and sat down next to him and put the headphone in. It was blaring country music.

"So what's really up with Yagyuu?" Marui asked.

Niou took a second to say, "He hits on me where I go."

Marui made a mental note to kill Yagyuu.

"Don't kill him," Niou snapped back quickly.

Marui turned red, wondering how Niou knew.

Niou laughed. "Because I'm a mind reader."

Marui thought he was serious.

"Because I know you, you idiot." Niou smiled. "I just… I don't know. It's weird."

"You know how Jackal says he okay with this, with us? Well, I know he says that, but if I ever told him I have feelings for him –which I don't –he would be freaked out. He's okay with something like cancer and AIDS and polar dying, unless it happens to him."

Niou nodded understandingly, but didn't get where Marui was going. But that red head kept on talking.

"I guess I'm just trying to say that people change when put into a situation. Maybe Yagyuu had always liked you, but you told everyone you were straight and slept with girls when in reality you had never even kissed a girl. Maybe he thinks that since you're seeing me that he has a chance?"

That made sense, but Niou didn't admit it. And Marui didn't say anything else. They just hummed along to the beat until Yukimura came to take them to practice.

.

Niou was lying in his bed that night, his laptop opened up, when his sister frantically ran into his room. He immediately shut his laptop having been on with Marui, and looked at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, seeing tears.

"Nana had a heart attack!"

And Niou's world came crashing down.

* * *

**A/N: Gah. I'm up to my neck with school work. This sucks, but I'm trying to find time to write. But whenever I write I write for stories that aren't even up yet!**


	20. Chapter 20

**- 20 -**

Marui rushed to Niou's house, his bag in his hand and a huge smile on his face. Nothing was better than skipping school. He knocked, but no one was there. He found the key in the fake rock and let himself in, calling out that he was coming in just in case someone had indeed heard him knock. After slipping off his shoes, tripping up the stairs once or twice, he made it into Niou's room.

"Niou!" he said, opening the door.

He saw said boy lying on his bed with his ipod blaring rock music. Rock. Not country.

Marui dropped the bag in shock and Niou looked at him. Then he went back to starring at the wall. "Why are you here?"

"The new Pokémon games came out…" he muttered, picking up the bag again and setting it on Niou's desk. "I got the remake of gold, you got silver, remember? We ordered them like two months ago and –"

"I know. I mean, why are you _here_?" Niou asked coldly. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"Why are you still here?"

Marui grabbed the bag, pulled out his version of the game, and set the bag back on the desk. "No reason," he said just as coldly. He opened up Niou's desk drawer and pulled out his DS – he kept it at Niou's house because his mother didn't believe in video games. He plugged the game in.

Niou turned his music up louder.

Marui turned his DS up louder.

Niou turned his up to full volume.

Marui sat down on the bed next to Niou.

Niou hissed, pulled out his headphones, and sat up. He pushed Marui off his bed. "Take a hint and get out!"

Marui looked up at Niou. "What the hell? If you want to break up and see Yagyuu then tell me, but don't hit me!"

"I don't want to see Yagyuu!"

"Then why aren't you at school? I skipped practice to come here!"

Niou close his eyes and fisted his hands into the bed. "My grandmother had a heart attack. Her heart's working at fifteen percent- that's not good. My family's visiting her, I'm staying home. Now, will you please leave?"

Marui crawled over to Niou's bed and pulled himself up, sitting next to Niou.

"I said go."

Marui put an arm around Niou.

Niou's eyes teared up. "Go damn it! GO!"

Marui kissed Niou on the temple. "You're afraid of being close to me right now because you're family is falling apart. News flash, Ni-ni, I'm not your family. I'm just the guy who loves you."

"I hate you," Niou said softly, leaning into Marui's chest.

"Love you too."

Marui just sat there as Niou silently cried into his chest – the sound of the Pokémon opening and Niou's faint music the only sound in the room. Marui knew better than to leave Niou alone, and Niou knew that Marui would not leave.

* * *

**A/N: Is anyone on this site besides me excited for the remake of the old Pokémon games? I got silver, my brother got gold. We're geeks until the end! Also, throughout the next few couple chapters this goes back to being a story that's not a story (basically fluff).**

**I'm sick and crap so yeah… Whatever. I might write a little later tonight and post another chapter, I might not. But what I have in mind for the next chapter is really fluffy.**


	21. Chapter 21

**- 21 -**

Niou only saw darkness. Not because he was blind, but because his insane boyfriend thought he needed cheering up (he cried, he was over it, and they were to never mention it again), and Marui insisted on blindfolding him and taking him somewhere special.

Marui ran Niou into another tree.

Niou rubbed his nose while Marui laughed.

"I. Hate. You."

Marui continued to push Niou, ignoring his comments of hate because he knew to Niou that hate was love (most of the time, when it was him, at least).

"Okay, take it off," Marui finally whispered into Niou's ear.

Niou took off the blindfold that had just been their uniform's tie. Niou's jaw dropped in awe. It was night (just how long had Marui pushed him?), the lights of the huge Ferris wheel in front of him were glowing like fireworks, and there was no one else there.

"The carnival doesn't open up for another week. Why are we here?" Niou asked as Marui grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to the control booth. He knocked on the glass and a man sat up from his chair.

"Ah! Bunta!" the man said, sliding the glass open. "I was wondering when you would show up! The car's all ready for you. I hope this cheers your friend up." The man smiled, Niou furrowed his brow, and Marui dragged him to the circular cart. They closed the door behind them, both boys sitting on opposite sides, and the ride began to move.

"What is going on?" Niou asked, peering out the window. God Japan was beautiful at night –the lights, the mystery, the possibilities.

"That was my cousin. He works this thing and promised to –" The ride stopped. Marui smiled and Niou smiled with him.

Niou moved to sit next Marui. He wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him so hard. "I love you!" Then he turned and looked out the window like a kid on Christmas morning.

Marui smiled at the site of Niou smiling again. This had been the plan after all. Niou had always wanted to get stuck at the top of the Ferris wheel – nighttime was just a bonus (plus it was the only time his cousin could sneak them a ride).

"It makes you feel so small," Niou mumbled, "so human."

He turned towards Marui. Niou gently cupped Marui's face with one hand and brushed his lips up against the red head's. Marui just closed his eyes and let Niou lean him down so his back was flush against the cheap leather. Niou moved his free hand onto Marui's chest, bunching the fabric in his fist. Marui grabbed the back of Niou's head as he whispered pants of love and "Niou..."

Marui didn't care that there was a spring poking his back. He didn't care that Yagyuu was trying to get with Niou. He didn't care that Niou would be sad and worried about his grandmother the second their feet touched the ground. Nothing mattered besides Niou's hand against his chest and the one on his face. It was like the world had stopped.

Until the ride started and they feel to the floor with a thud.

Niou rubbed his head and Marui pulled his shirt down. Then they looked at each other and laughed.

Only they would make-out at the top of a Ferris wheel and end up falling on their butts.

* * *

**A/N: I've mentioned Niou's wanting to get stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel a few times and I thought that I'd finally do it. **

**A note to everyone: Expect an update this coming weekend. It will probably have something to do with Planet Earth: Life because that comes on tonight and holy freakin' shit I cannot wait for it!  
**

**Now a note to my anyonomus reviewer: You're review made me smile more and more as I read it. I usually don't get anyonmous reviews because people just assume author's don't allow them. I don't see why they don't, some people don't want to make an account but like to tell other people how to improve or something of the sort. I usually try to write SOMETHING back when people take the time to write a review, but you're review was so long! I'm glad you like Niou/Marui now because I was just like you when I wrote my first story. To make an even longer story short, I wrote Niou/Marui into that story and fell in love with the pairing. I think it's just how normal they are that makes it special. Yes, I do agree that normal people mess up and that this story could probably last a pretty long time, but I have time write that, right? **


	22. Chapter 22

**- 22 -**

Marui was glad to see Niou smiling again. He hadn't been smiling that much since his grandmother had been in the hospital again. Marui was just over all glad.

Except that today was April Fool's day and Marui was usually the center of Niou's little pranks.

"Little" meaning orange paint, glue, duct tape, and feathers. Plus cameras.

"What are you planning this year?" Marui asked as they ate lunch up on the roof.

"Nothing."

"Nothing" meaning orange paint, glue, duct tape, and feathers. Plus cameras.

Marui groaned.

Marui walked into the clubroom alone (Niou had told him he needed to do something (probably with orange paint)) and began to get changed.

Yukimura walked in a second later and opened up his locker, ignoring Marui and Akaya.

Marui looked at his junior. "He'll get over it," he told Akaya.

Akaya nodded, and then went back to changing. That's when Yukimura's locker opened and his scream probably broke something in his body. Everyone turned and saw their captain covered in glue.

Then, a second later, one of the ceiling tiles slide out of place, Niou stuck his head down, and poured the feathers on.

Then, when Yukimura looked up, saw Niou with a camera, saw the flash, and screamed again. The tile was closed before Yukimura could even get on top of the lockers.

The chicken captain looked around and could tell everyone was trying not to laugh.

Then door to the locker room opened up a moment later, and Niou came walking in. The door closed as Niou said, "Yo."

Marui furrowed his eyebrow. His voice got deeper. Then he got it. He smiled.

Yukimura ran up to him, shoved him into the wall, kicked him in a place where men do not want to be kicked –the shin– then went to get a shower.

That's when the door opened (again) and Niou walked in.

Everyone was obviously confused. The second Niou-to-enter reached down and pulled a wig off the first Niou.

Niou smirked, Yagyuu glared. "April Fool's Ya-ga-yuu."

Marui couldn't keep his laughter in any longer. Niou went up to Marui and hooked an arm around his waist, looking straight a Yagyuu.

"Don't fuck with us," he said harshly.

"Very classy – telling me to walk in dressed as you because we had doubles today. But, Niou-kun, not your best work."

Yagyuu walked out of the room, obviously not caring that he would be skipping practice, then had orange paint dumped over his head.

Marui smiled. "Ah, the orange paint. When's the duct tape come in?"

"On his way home."

* * *

**A/N: So I was going to post this yesterday, but my computer got a virus so I spent like two hours fixing that (urgh). I got it fix nonetheless and I am now posting this. **

**Also, I suck at writing short humor. I'm better with crappy puns -.-**


	23. Chapter 23

**- 23 -**

"Are you going to visit your grandmother?" Marui asked, sitting at the foot of Niou's bed while the trickster was lying down, his head in Marui's lap.

Niou looked up at Marui and blinked. "No."

Marui frowned. "Why not?"

Niou shrugged, though his shoulders only hit Marui's thighs. "I don't know… I just, it doesn't feel right. If I go to visit her like she's dying, then she really is. But if don't visit her, then she could still get better."

Marui patted Niou on the head. The trickster sat up, turned around, and hit Marui on the back of the head.

"I'm not a dog," Niou reminded him.

Marui rubbed the back of his head and pouted. "But Ni-ni is a cute dog…"

Niou rolled his eyes. "I'm not a dog! Don't make me hit you again," he threatened.

Marui held his hands up in the air. "Don't shoot the messenger."

"Fine." He crawled a little bit and kissed Marui, sucking on the red head's lower lip. When he pulled back he smirked. "I'll kiss the messenger."

Marui thought for a second while Niou moved and sat firm on his lap. Marui felt Niou wrap his arms around his neck and play with his hair. The red head smirked and rubbed Niou's back when the trickster kissed him on the lips in an almost teasing manner.

"What would you do to the person who sent the messenger?" Marui asked.

"Ravish him," Niou mumbled against the red head's lips.

Marui tilted his head back and laughed, then yelped when Niou kissed his neck. He pushed the trickster back. Niou let out a small, girlish yell when he hit the floor. Marui looked off the edge of the bed and rolled his lips into his mouth.

"Sorry," Marui mumbled.

"What was that for?" Niou was rubbing his butt, a sight Marui did not mind.

Marui shrugged one shoulder.

Niou got it.

"You're ticklish there."

Marui turned bright red.

"Yes, you are!" Niou stood up, grabbed Marui's wrists when he went to protest, and pushed him back on the bed. He kissed Marui's neck lightly and the red head began to laugh like a hyena.

Niou pulled back, smirking.

"What?" Marui asked, sitting up and pushing Niou off his stomach.

Niou smirked and poked Marui in the stomach. "Every time you call me Ni-ni or mention my grandmother, I'll make you laugh."

Marui frowned. "That's not fair.

"Trickster."

A trickster indeed.

* * *

**A/N: If you don't feel like me going on and on about my other stories and ideas, then feel free not to read this. **

**For those of you who have only read this story of mine and are not alerted to me as an author, I have a new story up. It's called "Did You Get That?" It is rated M, but that's mostly for language. The only yaoi pairing is Niou/Marui and what I'm making them do in there is a lot more, um, graphic?, than this story. No sex, just a lot of heavy making out and hand jobs behind piss covered gas stations -.-**

**So, yeah, go check that out! I'm also working on a few other ideas that might be posted this summer (don't hold me to my word on that just yet!). Most of them are Niou/Marui or RD-centric (by most I mean all). **

**Okay, I'm done now.**


	24. Chapter 24

**- 24 -**

Niou was sitting on his bed, doing his homework, when he got a text message from Marui.

_check ur bio book!_

Niou rolled his eyes, but reached down to the floor for his book. He opened it up and a little red envelope popped out. He furrowed his brow, then opened it up. It smelled like chocolate.

_Dear Ni-ni,_

_I know you've been feeling down, and that I haven't exactly been a good boyfriend. I won't even tell my parents we're together because I'm a afraid. Then, with that out of mind, I begin to think…_

_Am I moving too fast? Am I thinking too slow?_

_So, I took all night to write this stupid love letter to you._

_I dye my hair red because it makes me feel hot, but I sweat bullets when I'm around you._

_I plan to kiss the seal of the envelope, but I bet you won't be able to see it._

_This smells like chocolate because it is an aphro-something. I'm not sure how you spell it, but apparently it makes people fall in love. _

_Phew. Why did I just write phew? I said that. Wow I'm going insane. Anyways, I want to get to the point of this stupid love letter._

_I know you need your space and so do I. I don't want to leave you and I definitely don't want to stop spending time with you. But I get that things are different now that we're seeing each other, even though we pretend we're not. It's weird to sleep in the same bed now; we can't see each other naked without blushing; I bet there are more things if I think about it, but my hand is starting to cramp._

Niou smiled and rolled onto his back, holding the letter above his face so he could read it.

_Anyways, I wrote this stupid love letter from me to you and I think you get the point. I'll love you no matter what –peanut butter pickles and all –but I think we need to spend more time as a couple, not as friends._

_I like picnics. I like moon light walks. I like jumping in that stream behind Sanada's house to piss him off. I wear tight, black shirts when I feel even hotter. I twirl my lollipops when I feel naughty. I like it when you treat me like your boyfriend, not your friend._

_Love,  
Marui Bunta_

_PS: Isn't my handwriting sexy?_

Niou rolled his eyes, but then just stared at the letter.

"A couple, eh?"

Niou smiled.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the semi-slow updates. My school work is down a little, but my personal life is just shit.  
**

**Anyways, um, I don't know when the next chapter of "Did You Get That?" will be out. Maybe next week or this weekend. **


	25. Chapter 25

**- 25 -**

When Marui came over for movie night later that week, Niou had made popcorn and was walking up to his room.

"Just set the soda down somewhere," Niou mumbled. "I'll be right back."

Marui put down a container of mountain dew on Niou's desk and sat up on the bed and waited for Niou. A moment later Niou came up and put a movie in the DVD player.

"Is it a zombie movie?" Marui asked, reaching for the popcorn.

Niou sat on the bed next to him and grabbed the remote. He covered Marui's eyes with his hand, then hit play. When he moved his hand, Marui looked very, very confused.

"What is this?" Marui asked curiously, observing the dark, gloomy underwater scene.

"_The Titanic_."

Marui spit out his popcorn. "What?" He looked at Niou. "That's a chick flick."

It was Niou's turn to be confused. "I know? I got it from my sister's room. I thought we could watch it. If you don't want to, it's okay. I mean, I heard it's sad –"

"It's cool. I bet it's not even that sad," Marui said.

.

Marui watched with tears in his eyes as Rose watched Jack's body float to the bottom of the sea. He looked over and saw Niou silently crying. Then he went back to watching the rest of the movie. When it was completely over, Marui was balling and Niou had gone to the bathroom.

"What did I miss?" Niou asked, coming back in just as the credits started.

"Baby," Marui mumbled, wiping his eyes. "You left because you were crying."

Niou sat next to him. "Shut up."

"Don't tell me to shut up," Marui mumbled. They were silent for a second, then Marui asked, "Does your sister have _The Notebook_?"

Niou nodded and went into his sister's room.

_So much for acting like a couple_, Marui thought, _we're like a bunch of girls._

Niou came back in, put in the movie, and sat back down next to Marui. He lied down and rested his head against Marui's chest, letting the red head wrap his arms around him.

Marui thought for a second. Maybe they weren't a girl and boy couple, but what they had going for them worked pretty damn well and he didn't have any plans to change that.

* * *

**A/N: I don't say this enough, but thank you to everyone who has alerted, reviewed, favorited or even read this story. I appreciate you guys staying with this story for so long (even when this "random bunch of one-shots" became an actual story). **

**Just side note, I watched Titanic last night for the first time in a few years and now I really want to do a story like it – I might not do an AU, but I still would keep the plot fairly similar. I have a poll on my profile, so go check it out.**


	26. Chapter 26

**- 26 -**

Niou wasn't sure why he was at the amusement park with the team. He didn't want to be there, he knew that. He just wished he knew why he was there.

"Niou-senpai!" Akaya called, running up to him.

Oh, yeah, Akaya was the reason.

"What do you want?" Niou asked, sipping his soda.

Akaya pointed to the roller coaster behind him. It went up ninety degrees, then straight down. Niou gulped. He had a secret besides loving pickles and peanut butter – he hated roller coasters.

"Ask Marui," Niou said, hoping Akaya didn't realize he was sweating.

Akaya frowned. "Yukimura-buchou won't come, Sanada-fukubuchou is getting lunch with Yanagi and Yagyuu-senpai. And–"

"Jackal. Ask Jackal," Niou said.

"He's in the bathroom with Marui-senpai."

"Then wait."

Akaya's frown grew larger. "Come on! Please semapi," Akaya whined.

Niou looked up at that drop, then back at Akaya. "I would, but it doesn't look safe."

Akaya pointed to another coaster. "Then let's go on that one!"

The other one was stopped on a piece of straight track. Niou thought he might just have to tell Akaya until the carts were flown forward.

"God," Niou mumbled. "How fast did they just go?"

"Zero to sixty in three point seconds." Akaya smiled and grabbed Niou's wrist. "Let's go!"

Niou slithered his wrist away. "Um," he drew out. He looked around frantically. "Let's go on that one."

Akaya looked when Niou was pointed, then looked at Niou again. "Are you afraid of roller coasters senpai?"

"Why would you ask that?" Niou asked nervously.

"That's the Ferris wheel."

Niou nodded. "And it's fun! Besides, wouldn't you rather wait five minutes for Jackal and Marui before we all get on a ride."

"But I want to go now!"

Just then, Yukimura walked up to the two. He patted Niou on the back and smiled. "Come on, Niou, flatter him."

"You're not going either," Niou commented as Akaya glowed.

Yukimura didn't even look at Akaya, but he did look at Niou's nose. He never could make eye contact. "Doctor's orders. You go. Unless you're afraid. Are you afraid?"

Yukimura smiled. Niou let Akaya drag him away.

.

On the way home, Marui and Akaya were sitting next to each other. Akaya handed Marui the picture of Niou screaming like a little girl. Marui rubbed his head.

"Thank you," Marui said, smiling.

"Why do you need that anyways?" Akaya asked curiously. "I mean, I don't mind watching Niou-senpai screaming or riding a kick ass coaster, but still."

Marui looked down at the picture. Then he patted Akaya on the head. "You'll understand one day."

"Blackmail?" Akaya asked.

Marui paused. "Blackmail."

* * *

**A/N: I spent all day yesterday at an amusement park. There was one coaster that went from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds (scary as hell) and another that had a ninety degree drop. I love roller coasters, but I couldn't get on those two. I went on all the others though.**

**Also, I'm sorry for the long wait on "Did You Get That?" I'm working as fast as I can. But I have a life and school and a bunch of other crap. I have managed to get a new chapter out, though, so check it out.**

**Just as another note. Instead of having a "-" in the center between location or time skips, I now need to use "-." because whenever I save it it disappears. Is anyone else having a problem like that?**


	27. Chapter 27

**- 27 -**

"I want to talk to you two after practice."

That was all Yukimura said, and it was enough to completely confuse Niou and Marui. They looked at each other, like Yukimura had just walked up to Sanada in a pink tutu. Was he going to make them clean up the courts with a toothbrush? Or maybe he was going to make them spit shine the locker room?

But, even though they didn't get why their captain wanted to talk to them, they changed and waited in the locker room after practice.

"What do you want to talk to us about?" Niou asked, leaning against his locker.

Yukimura was sitting on the bench, his hands clamped together. "I want you two to break up, or quit the team."

Marui just gawked at him. "Quit?" he asked.

Yukimura nodded. "Yes. You see, there is no point to keep you on the team. Nationals are over, and you have already turned Kirihara-kun into… _you_…" He grimaced.

Marui took a step forward, a fist raised, but Niou stopped him. "Stop it, Marui," he said, not letting go even after the red head lowered his fist. "We didn't make him gay."

The silence that followed was deadly. Now, you might not remember this, but Niou had trespassed under Yukimura's watch and Marui was coming up from behind to keep Yukimura from shooting Niou with a flaming arrow.

But Yukimura just killed them both.

"You can't make us quit," Marui finally said.

"Yes, I can. I checked the rule book." He stood up. "Genchirou approves."

"Sanada! That bastard – I'll kill him!" Niou yelled, kicking the nearest locker. He wiped his head around, glaring at Yukimura, and then he looked back at Marui. He dropped his head.

"I'll give you time to think, but I think the choice is obvious." Yukimura shrugged. "Break up or give up the one thing that gives you a little niche in this school."

"Screw you," Marui said as he turned around.

Marui left, but Niou took a minute.

The trickster turned to Yukimura. "Yukimura, I pray that you find peace with the world you live in," Niou said, but he also added, "I also pray a flower pot falls from a windowsill and nobody calls you when you really need it. I pray that the brakes on your bus stop working when you go down a hill. I pray you pass out drunk with some guy later in life and wake up next to him, naked. Trust, I'll pray."

And then, he left.

* * *

**A/N: I don't know if some of you have read my older stories, but if you do, you know I don't like those big lines a lot of people use for times skips or locations changes. I used to center a "-" but those no longer work. Fanfiction deleted them from ever. Single. Story.**

**So, I am pissed because I don't remember where they are in my older, longer stories like "Love's Weird Like That" (even the *'s from that story are gone). Fanfiction is being an asshole and I really need to go back freakin' re-read everything I've written for this site – that's a whooping 147,771 words, not including this chapter. Fun.**

**I'm not going back and changing "Love's Weird Like That" because, well, I'm not completely happy with it and don't like it enough to change it. I am also not so worried about this story because most of the chapters don't have dividers and it won't take me long to find them. I already fixed "Did You Get That?" and "Bite Me" is on a permanent hiatus (I had a vampire obsession, I got over it) so I'm not worried about those two. I'm doing this story either tomorrow or Sunday.**

**Note II: I have a new poll. It's not important – it just asks what pairing you want me to write more of because I have some one-shots I want to get out of my head before I started another multi-chapter fic when I really shouldn't, and I figured I should ask what peopled wanted to read (I only give like 3 (4?) choices).**


	28. Chapter 28

**- 28 -**

Marui and Niou didn't really talk on the way home. It was awkward, so awkward you could probably cut it. Or the expression you could cut the tension? Either way, it doesn't matter. All that mattered was that whenever Niou brought up what Yukimura had said, Marui freaked and told him to shut up.

"Marui," Niou tried again.

"Shut up!" Marui snapped. "We're not talking about this. I'm reading the damn rule book down to the dot when we get home so I can find a damn loop hole!"

Niou grabbed Marui's shoulder. "We break up or we quit, those are our options."

Marui pulled his shoulder away. "We're not talking about this!"

"No, we are talking about this, Marui," Niou yelled. "This isn't Unicorn-Rainbow Land! We need to talk about this now, damn it!"

Marui took in a deep breath. "I'd rather give up tennis than you. Happy?"

"No. Because tennis is… tennis makes me happy," Niou said softly.

Marui sighed. "Can we not talk about this here?" Niou shook his head, saying they needed to talk about it now. "You seriously would rather stay on the tennis team than be with me?"

Niou didn't say anything.

"Niou, say something."

"We don't even act like a couple! We're friends who kiss," Niou said.

Marui shook his head. "You asshole."

"No, damn it, I didn't mean it like that!" Niou sighed, cursing under his breath. "Tennis and you make me happy. But tennis…?"

Marui just walked away when Niou didn't say anything else.

.

Akaya was sitting in his bedroom when Niou showed up. Akaya went to say hello, but Niou kicked the door shut behind him and locked it before Akaya could say anything.

"You look mad. Are you going to kill me?" Akaya asked softly.

"No, I'm not going to kill you," Niou said, sighing.

"Then what's wrong?" Akaya asked as Niou sat on his bed.

"I think Marui and I just broke up."

* * *

**A/N: Urgh. I hate writer's blocks. I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I have so many things I want to do, but I can't find a way to word , I apologize for this short chapter and its crappiness - it could have been A LOT better, I know.**


	29. Chapter 29

**- 29 -**

"Broke up?" Akaya couldn't believe his own mouth. "_Broke up?_"

Niou just sat there, silent. He wanted so badly to say something, that it wasn't his fault, that things just happen, but he couldn't form the words. He felt like he was drowning.

"What do you mean?" Akaya was screaming. "You two were… perfect."

Niou stared. "You do realize we're not even able to drive. We weren't going to be together forever. We just planned on spending as much time together as possible..."

He trailed off and everything went blurry. Then he felt some roll down his face. He reached up, and wiped away a tear.

"What the -?" He rubbed his eyes, his cheeks turning red. "Hell no. I don't –"

"You love him," Akaya said softly. "I know people say we're young and stupid, that we don't know what we're doing. Hell, I think I'm gay for a homophobe. Does that make me stupid?" He paused. "Don't answer that."

Niou rubbed at his eyes, as if his hands would make the tears stop. "I don't give a crap if Marui's gone. We've fought before, why should I care now?"

"Then why are you crying?" Akaya shot back. Niou glared at him, then started saying something, but it came out like he was choking. Akaya shook his head. "Senpai, I think of you guys like the brothers I never had. My sister is anything but a princess, and you guys taught me what older siblings were supposed to."

Niou stopped rubbing his eyes. "What the heck are you talking about? We gave you a swirly and you got a concussion! What does this have to do with Marui and me anyways? Why am I even here? I don't give a crap about this; I'm leaving."

Then, just as Niou stood up to make a run for the door, Akaya said, "I threatened to quit the team, and buchou said we would put it up to a team vote tomorrow – so just, just come to practice."

Then Niou left, smiling as he slammed the door up to keep his damn pride.

* * *

**A/N: This is a long note… again.**

**I: Thanks for all of those who have read this from start to end, and I know that the story that was "one-shots" turned into a story with a plot and a heck of a lot of readers and stuff. Um, thank you? Anyone who knows me knows that I find it hard to believe that people think I'm a good writer because I just write things as the words go into my head. I'm not some egotistical person (really, I'm not), so thanks to all of you who have read the story so far!**

**II: On the poll on my profile, more people want Niou/Marui. Um, I'm re-writing "Love's Weird Like That" and I plan to make a lot more of Niou/Marui in that because that's when I first started to love the pairing. I have no idea when that will be up, though.**

**III: These "one-shots" are becoming a story with a plot that I did not have planned out, and I'm not sure where I want it to go now. So, um, yeah… Expect random updates, and perhaps no updates for awhile. I am out of school, but I have friends, and other stories, plus a I'm taking driver's ed and I have camps and crap. I think I have an idea about where I want the story to go, but that's a secret.**


	30. Chapter 30

**- 30 -**

The next day at practice, Niou was sitting on the ground of the locker room, his back up against the wall. Akaya was sitting next to him, while Yagyuu stood on his other side. When Marui and Jackal entered, neither said anything and sat on the bench. Yanagi, Sanada and Yukimura followed the D1 pair within the minute, and stopped at the door.

Yukimura crossed his arms, shooting Akaya a look. "Due to recent circumstances," he began, his words short and choppy, "we need to vote on something. Genchirou."

Sanada flinched when Yukimura looked at him. He nodded and handed everyone a piece of paper and a pen, and took off his hat.

"What are we voting on?" Yagyuu asked having not talked to Niou the night before.

Yukimura didn't hesitate; he just stood there, his eyes narrowed. "Whether you want me to quit so Niou and Marui can be together, or if you want Kirihara to quit, me to stay, and them to be apart."

Akaya stood up rather violently. "That wasn't the deal!"

Yukimura gave him a sickly sweet smile. "This is still my team, not yours." He smiled at Yanagi. "Please explain the rest, Renji."

Yanagi nodded, but his face gave him away. Sometimes he was more reflective than a mirror. "Write your choice, then fold the paper and place it in the hat. We will call out the vote and the results will be put into effect immediately."

"Did you ever think we don't want to be together?" Marui asked, glaring at Yukimura. "Did you ever get your head out of your ass and think that maybe this was all a scam to piss you off?"

Yukimura stood there for a minute then looked at Yanagi, who quickly opened the notebook he always had with him. "Chance of their relationship being a sham –" He paused.

"Renji, tell me the data," Yukimura said. Yanagi didn't say anything. Yukimura shot him a look, a look that would have beaten Echizen Ryoma. "That was not a question, Renji, it was an order."

"Chance of their relationship being a sham, 98 percent," he said, closing his notebook quickly.

Yukimura looked between Niou and Marui, as if deciding which one to believe. Niou's eyes were red, and Akaya was sitting close to him, as if to protect him from a lion. Marui, however, showed no signs of the traditional teenage break up.

Yukimura stopped his eyes on Marui. "Fine. But," he continued, his eyes colder than his heart, "if I see you so much as touch hands, you'll both be off this team before you can say 'Seigaku.' Do you understand me?"

Marui nodded. Yukimura turned to leave; Sanada took his hat and followed after him. When the doors closed, Yanagi looked at Niou and Marui.

"Chance of their relationship being a sham, 2 percent," he said, looking between the two. "I suggest you avoid Seiichi for a few days, because if he discovers I was lying to cover for you two, though it is very improbable that this will occur, I am 100 percent sure that we will all be off this team."

Marui looked at Niou. That's when Akaya, Yanagi, Jackal, and Yagyuu left. Marui licked his lips, and just looked at Niou.

Niou stood up rubbing the back of his head as he sat next to his friend. "I don't say sorry," Niou reminded him.

Marui nodded. "I know." He looked at the ground, like it would have an answer (it didn't), then back at Niou. "I'm sorry for making you go through PMS."

Niou smirked. "_Possessive Marui and his shit_ syndrome? Yes, I do recall having that disease some time ago…"

"No," Marui said, "I mean _putting up with Marui and his shit_ syndrome. I freaked out. I should've listened to you. I should've –"

"You never shut up, do you?" Niou asked before he slid his hand into Marui's thick hair. He leaned forward, barely brushing his lips against Marui's. Niou could taste the chocolate of Marui's cereal on his lips, and that only made the trickster smile. Marui closed his eyes, smiling into the chocolaty kiss.

* * *

**A/N: I am going to continue this story as one-shots with a mini plot (sort of like it originally was). But, if something large does happen again, it'll turn into something like the last few chapters (something with a connected plot and chapters). Does that make sense?**

**I also plan to include their siblings – just Niou's and Marui's. I think they'll be a fun little addition to the couple. I also plan to go back to the original style of writing that this fic was in because, well, I like it more.**

**I already have up to chapter 33 written, so expect an update a day for the next three days.**


	31. Chapter 31

**- 31 -**

It was awkward at first, the two of them hanging out again that is. They were only "apart," if you could even call it that, for one night. And, within that night, nothing had happened while they were apart, but everything had changed. Yet, at the same time, nothing had changed. It was odd, very, very odd.

Niou was on his bed, lying on his stomach, black DS in hand, waiting for a ping. Marui was at the foot of the bed, his head right by Niou's hands, poking at the screen of a silver DS. The soft sounds of some old, American country song was playing in the earphones they were sharing.

_Déjà vu_

Niou smiled. Yeah, he had it, too, but he always had so much fun teasing his… he didn't know what Marui and he were anymore, so let's let it at he liked to tease Marui. Niou picked up his pointer and wrote:

_**Why?**_

Ping.

_Kiss_

Send. Ping. Wait.

**I don't remember…**

Send. Ping. Wait.

_Bitch_

Send. Ping. Wait again.

_**Jerk**_

Send. Another ping. More waiting.

_Look at me_

Niou closed his DS and looked down on the floor where Marui was. Niou didn't see anything odd about him, until the red head snapped his DS shut and moved to his knees. He grabbed Niou's head, a hand on each cheek, and kissed him.

"Two, including the locker room." Kiss. "Three." Kiss. "Four."

"That's right, I remember now… we broke up," Niou said, smiling like Fuji. "How many times do you need to kiss before you're officially going out?"

Marui smirked. "I think it's twenty."

"I thought it was ten," Niou said, grinning into Marui's next kiss.

"Wait, on second thought, it's thirty," Marui kissed him another time. "Six."

"Let's just make it an even forty," Niou finally said, rolling father back onto the bed. Marui pulled himself up and curled up next to Marui.

"I can live with that."

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I re-read the first few chapters and thought it would be cute to make them redo the whole kiss thing they did in the second chapter. **


	32. Chapter 32

**- 32 -**

In the morning, Marui groaned when his younger twin brothers began to pound on his bedroom door. He yelled at them to shut up, they giggled, then Hikaru, the young of the two, said, "Your girlfriend sent you a text message."

Marui fell out of his bed. Literally.

When he stood up, his foot got tangled in his baggy sweat pants. He cursed softly, not wanting his younger brothers to pick up his mouth – his mother was already yelling at him whenever he said "crap" in front of the two boys.

Once Marui got himself together, he opened up the door. He looked down at the two little devils; Hikaru was holding his cell phone, while Haruto smirking away – and to think, he thought Yukimura was evil.

"Why do you have my phone?" Marui asked, grabbing it away from Hikaru.

Haruto shrugged. "You left it in the hall to charge. We woke up, went downstairs to get something to eat, and we saw it." Then he smiled. "What's her name?"

"Yeah, Ni-ni isn't a cool name," Hikaru added.

Marui cursed mentally. Though, on the other hand, part of him was glad he changed Niou's name on his phone to "Ni-ni" because he honestly had no clue how his younger brothers would react to him and Niou – he knew his parents would probably strangle him.

"Did you read it?" Marui asked, opening up his phone.

The two boys shook their head. "We're not that mean, onii-san," Hikaru said, Haruto adding in, "Yeah, we're not jerks like that Niou-san you hang out with."

"Niou's not a jerk," Marui told him firmly. "He's my best friend."

"He calls us names," Hikaru said in an almost whinny way.

"Yeah," Haruto nodded. "He calls us the Devil Twins."

"You are," Marui reminded them. Marui chose to slam the door in their faces right there. They were only a year younger than him, so Marui figured they could take it like men. He locked the door, and then plopped onto his bed.

Marui opened the text message and smiled to himself.

_**Good morning**_

Marui put one hand behind his head and typed a message with the other.

_my bros think u r a girl_

Marui snapped his phone shut and rolled onto his side. Time to go back to sleep. His phone vibrated. He groaned and flipped his phone open.

_**Did you call me Ni-ni on your phone?**_

_yes_

_**I'll kill you**_

_love u too :)_

Marui turned his phone off completely, and rolled back onto his side with a smile.

* * *

**A/N: Another update tomorrow then they become random again.**


	33. Chapter 33

**- 33 -**

Marui was sitting outside in his swim trunks, with his shirt off, next to the sprinklers. Marui's brothers, Haruto and Hikaru, were running through, laughing and what not until Niou showed up with his older sister and younger brother.

Haruto and Hikaru froze dead in their tracks at the site of Niou's older sister. She was in a bikini and the twins just gawked. They were a year younger than Marui, but were both jocks, so they didn't have much time to hang around girls, especially in the summer when girls wore less and less and less.

"If you want to keep staring, make sure the water's cold," Marui told them under his breath.

"Pervert," Haruto said, taking his eyes off of her. Hikaru just nodded and went back to hitting his brother with a foam noodle.

Marui rolled his eyes and stood up. He walked over to them and Riko, Niou's sister, immediately hugged him. Kenji, Niou's younger brother, immediately pulled his shirt off over his head and ran over to join Hikaru and Haruto in the sprinkler.

"I haven't seen you in awhile," Marui said, blushing when Riko pulled away. He looked down for a second at her swimsuit and Niou hit him in the back of the head. "What did I do?" Marui asked.

Niou hit him again. "Stop starring."

Marui hit Niou back, though not hard. Niou hit him again. Marui hit Niou again. Then Riko just rolled her eyes.

"God, stop flirting," she said, going to sit in one of the lounge chairs on the patio.

Marui and Niou glared at each other, though they were both smiling, and followed her. Niou was wearing a swimsuit, too, but didn't seem to want to run through a sprinkler, so the three of them just lied in their chairs, lounging under the heat of the sun.

"So, is Masaharu doing okay in school?" Riko asked, putting on pair of sunglasses. "He doesn't talk to us much."

Marui raised an eyebrow. "He _doesn't_ talk? We can't get him to shut up."

She smiled. "That's good to here. Mom says that you make him happy. I'm glad Masaharu has such a nice friend." She sat up and leaned over to Niou's chair. She ruffled his hair and he smacked her hand away, so she hit him softly.

_I guess hitting in genetic_, Marui thought, watching the Niou siblings bicker.

"I'm going to make smoothies," Marui said, standing up.

Niou pulled out of Riko's reach. "I'll help," he said, smiling at Marui. He looked over at Kenji and the Marui twins. "Hey! Do you guys want smoothies?"

"No," they all called back in unison.

"Do you want one, Riko?" Niou asked.

"No thanks."

Niou just nodded and went into the house after Marui. The kitchen only had one window, and it looked out the side of the house. Marui reached up to get the blender out of the cabinet and Niou hummed.

"Nice view," he commented.

Marui smiled and got up on his toes. "Better?"

"Much."

Marui turned around, pulling the blender down with him. He set it on the counter before he leaned up against the counter, his hands gripping the edges. Niou walked up to him, putting his hands next to Marui's.

"This view is better," Niou commented, kissing Marui softly.

Marui brought his hands up, twirling Niou's rattail with his finger. He loved twirling it around his finger ever since Niou told him he grew it out for him. Marui just wanted to stay in that moment, with his finger in Niou's hair, Niou's hands on his hips, and that counter edge digging into his back.

But the two heard footsteps and jumped apart. Niou leaned against the counter and Marui rushed to the freezer to get ice.

Riko walked in a second later. "I changed my mind. Can I have one?" she asked.

Marui nodded. "Sure thing, Riko."

"You have spit on your lip, Masaharu," she said, pointing to her younger brother with a knowing smile. Marui turned red, Niou only wiped it away.

* * *

**A/N:So chapters will be randomly updated after this.**


	34. Chapter 34

**- 34 -**

Niou wasn't sure why he was having dinner at Marui's house. Probably because his mom invited him and Niou was raised to be respectful, but still, it was odd. He never ate dinner with Marui's family.

The twins were on one side of the rectangular table, Niou and Marui were on the other, and Marui's parents were at either end. Niou happened to be sitting next to Marui's father who, from what Marui said, was not a pleasant man.

"So, Niou-kun," his father said, "what do you plan to do after high school?"

"Math probably," he shrugged. "I might be a teacher, or maybe just a mathematician or I could be an engineer. I don't know, I just want to do something with math, I guess."

Being around Marui's family made Niou nervous. Marui kept nudging his foot under the table gently, or patting him on the leg as if to tell him he was doing fine. But the look Marui's father gave him just made Niou want to run for the wind. Is this how awkward it was introducing someone as your boyfriend/girlfriend? Niou had never had to do that before, so he really wasn't sure.

Oh crap.

What if this is what that was? What if Marui was introducing Niou as his boyfriend? All Niou knew was that Marui called his parents on their way home from practice and Marui handed Niou the phone. Marui's mother invited him over, and Niou was practically forced into dinner.

"Math, eh?" his father said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "Bunta isn't so good at math. You two are always studying, why isn't he any better?"

Marui nearly choked on his water, his face flushed. "Because," Niou said, covering for Marui, "I need help in biology, and he's good at biology. I guess he just spends more time helping me than I help him."

"Why are you lying?" Hikaru asked innocently.

_Shit. Fuck. Damn,_ Niou thought.

"Yeah, we hear you playing games," Haruto added.

"I knew that wii was a bad idea," his mother said. "Maybe we should move it down to the family room."

Marui used his flushed red face to his advantage. "Mom! That's not fair! Hikaru and Haruto have one in their room and they're failing English!"

"Shut up!" the twins yelled.

"You're failing?" their father asked.

Niou looked at Marui, his eyes showing his worry. Marui just pressed his lips together and did the smallest nod possible.

"So," his mother said, trying to change to subject off her sons, "do you have a girlfriend, Niou-kun?"

Niou was taken off guard. "Girlfriend?"

"You know, a girl," she said, smiling. "Do they call it something else now? I can't seem to keep up."

"It's still called that. And, no, I don't," Niou said, smiling.

"But Bunta does," Haruto said.

"Ni-ni's her nickname," Hikaru added.

_Shut up,_ Niou thought.

"Ni-ni?" his father asked. "Like, Niou?"

Everyone looked at Niou then Marui. "Ni-ni's a girl I know at school. She's not my girlfriend," he said, trying to act cool. "I mean, she's into me, but I don't like her like that. She's pretty and all, but she's a total bitch."

"Watch your language in front of the boys," his mother said, dropping the girlfriend subject right then and there.

.

After dinner, Marui's mother asked if Niou wanted to spend the night. Once again, he agreed, and was watching Marui set up the futon in his room.

"It wouldn't kill you to help," Marui said, standing up.

Niou shrugged one shoulder and rolled over on Marui's bed. "I met your parents and they didn't kill me – I deserve not to help."

"Met my parents?" Marui asked. "Dude, they have no freakin' clue we're going out. My dad just wanted to meet you because he thought you were a bad influence."

"Oh."

Well, that explained the girlfriend question.

"Besides, my dad's a homophobe, I've told you that," Marui said softly. "He can never find out about us."

"I know," Niou said softly. "My family's the same way. Probably worse."

Needless to say, the rest of the night was awkward and silent. Well, it was, until Niou asked: "So I'm pretty but a total bitch?"

"Yeah, basically. But I still love you."

* * *

**A/N: I have no ending comments but I feel the need to write one. **

**Oh, wait, I have one: if someone writes me a freakin' hilarious review I'll incorportate something from it into a one-shot dedicated to that person (or persons, I know some pretty funny people on this site); writing for t****h****e same stories chapter after chapter after chapter gets boring, so give me your funniest comments!**


	35. Chapter 35

**- 35 -**

"I want you to come with me to see my Nana."

Marui was completely taken off guard by Niou's comment. At least now he knew why Niou insisted on going into town instead of going to his house to study. What surprised Marui, though, was not that Niou tricked him again, but that Niou was going to see his grandmother.

"Sure," Marui said, popping a green bubble. "Is she okay?"

Niou shrugged. "Don't know. She's in the hospital – apparently having a heart attack is bad at her age, so they decided to move her into the old fart area."

"Is there seriously a place like that in the hospital?" Marui asked, laughing.

Niou shrugged again. He didn't respond, so Marui decided to shut up.

.

Niou didn't like hospitals. Period. He didn't even get why he was at one, let alone to see his grandmother. It wasn't like he hated his grandmother, he loved her to death, it's just that, well, she reminded him that everyone dies. He didn't like thinking about that.

Niou grabbed Marui's hand as he led him down the hospitals, though the trickster wasn't sure how much tighter his grip could get. He prayed mentally that there wasn't a doctor in his grandmother's room and that Marui didn't complain about his death grip on his hand, because Niou would probably lose it if he had to let go of Marui's hand.

"Excuse me," Niou said, going up to the nurse's station. "I'm looking for Niou Akira's room…"

"Right down the hall to your right," the young woman said, smiling.

Niou nodded and yanked on Marui's arm, practically dragging his boyfriend down the hall. Niou looked at the charts on the wall and got to the last one: Niou Akira. He froze and his grip on Marui's hand loosened.

"Okay, let's go," Niou said, turning on his heels.

Marui didn't let go of Niou's hand and tugged the boy back in front of the door. "No! You dragged me all the way here and I want to meet her, so get your ass in there."

"I don't know why I'm here," Niou said, his eyes frantic. "I was sitting in last mod, thought, 'I should visit Nana,' and then dragged you along! I hate random decisions, you know that."

Marui pointed to the door. Niou groaned.

"Please," he begged. "I'll let you call me Ni-ni. I'll –I'll introduce you to my family. Please, anything but –"

Marui reached around Niou and opened the door. "You'll thank me later," Marui said, shoving Niou in.

"Fuc –" Niou cut off his word as he stumbled into the room. He was still on his feet, though, and his eyes landed right on the old woman in the corner. She had something on her nose (oxygen?, he wondered) and was paler than a ghost.

"Masaharu?" She smiled when he nodded. "Masaharu! Come give your Nana a hug!"

Marui shoved Niou in farther, closing the door behind him. Marui leaned up against the door and shook his head when Niou turned around.

"Please," Niou begged.

Marui didn't budge.

Niou sighed and walked over to the bed, wrapping his arms around the frail old woman. She patted his back, then let go. "I'm not going to break, you know," she said, moving her legs so he could sit down.

"I'll stand," Niou said nervously.

"Sit."

Marui laughed mentally – he knew where Niou got his spunk, his grandmother.

Niou sat down while Marui just stood at the door, listening to the two talk about nothing. Nana did most of the talking, though, but when she mentioned school, Niou went off like a rocket. Math this and math that – Nana kept smiling, and when Niou smiled, Marui smiled, too.

Nana asked how Riko and Kenji were doing, and Niou told them they were fine. She did look at Marui at one point and say, "He's cute," before completely dropping the subject to talk about some fire that broke out down at the fire station. Apparently, Niou got his ironic, oddly cruel, sense of humor from his grandmother, too.

"Are you eating? You seem thin," she commented, grabbing his arm.

"Are you having heart attacks? You seem thin," he said, grabbing her arm.

"I'm old. I'm allowed to be a bitchy, semi-senile woman. You're young, you don't have an excuse."

Niou rolled his eyes, and then the two completely dropped the subject and went back to talking about something else.

After what seemed like only two minutes, but was actually forty, a nurse came in to tell them visiting hours were over. Before they left, Niou kissed his Nana on the cheek and promised they would be back tomorrow.

"Was that so hard?" Marui asked as they left the room. Niou punched him, keeping his head low enough. "Are you crying?" Marui asked, hunching over to see under Niou's bangs.

"I haven't seen her in years because I've been afraid she'll be this sick, weak woman." Niou rolled is shoulders and picked his head up –he wasn't crying, he was smiling. "She's still the same."

Marui kissed Niou's temple, not caring if they were in public. His boyfriend deserved an award for his courage; not many people can face their fears, even if that fear is an old woman.

* * *

**A/N: I'm kind of wishing I never did that whole break-up thing. It's kind of making me feel like I need a plot. Do I need a plot? I don't want a plot. I'm not going to make a plot.**

**Also, thanks for all the ideas :)**

**Also, I posted a Hiyoshi/Mukahi one-shot, which is basically just them getting rid of their oh-so obvious unresolved sexual tension (UST rocks, doesn't it?). Yes, I totally pimp my fics in my other fics. Don't judge me. **


	36. Chapter 36

**- 36 -**

The next day, Niou seemed… different. He didn't look any different, but he just seemed to have a different spring in his step. When Marui asked him about it, Niou simply said, "I'm excited to see her." Marui just nodded and went on with his day.

Niou was sitting next to his Nana and Marui was by the door again, and everything felt normal. Niou was smiling, Marui was blowing a bubble, and the world just felt calm. But that made Marui nervous – whenever something in their relationship was going right, something always went wrong again.

"Why don't you come sit down? I won't bite," Nana promised, his lips forming a small smile.

Marui walked over and gently sat down on the bed next to Niou. Niou absentmindedly leaned closer to Marui.

"You're Marui-kun, right?" she asked.

Marui nodded, blowing and popping another bubble. "Yup."

"My daughter says that you make Masaharu smile," she said. "You seem like a nice boy, I'm glad Masaharu found you – good friends, and _lovers,_ are hard to come by." His grandmother's lips curled up in a way that was identical to her grandson's devilish smirk.

"We're not –" Marui looked at Niou and then back at his boyfriend's grandmother. "We're not lovers."

"I don't mean sexually," she said, still holding her smirk. "I mean romantically."

_We are not having this conversation,_ Niou thought, looking at his grandmother with a desperate plea to stop it.

She looked at Niou, narrowing her eyes. "Don't look at me like that."

"Can we not talk about this?" Niou asked.

"Why? I'm not allowed to know about my grandson's life? I'm too old to do anything, so I need to live through you." She had a pout just like Niou's, too. "Does anyone know?"

"People think we're broken up or just friends," Marui mumbled, twirling Niou's pony tail.

"Yeah, we 'broke up' so we could still play tennis," Niou continued, knocking Marui's hand away. "Our captain is a bit of a douche bag when it comes to people like us."

Nana frowned, and it nearly broke Niou's heart. He came here on a whim to see her smile, not to see her frown at his problems.

"That's a shame. If an old fart like me can be okay with it, I don't get why a boy your age can't be."

Marui began to twirl Niou's hair again. Niou was half tempted to cut the damn thing off just to keep Marui from playing with it – he loved it when they were making out, but when they were just sitting there it was kind of annoying.

"A kohai of ours confessed to him, and he treats him completely different now," Niou said, giving up the fight with Marui.

Nana stopped frowning, but her eyes still showed her frustration and sadness. "People suck."

Niou smirked. "Yeah, they do."

"That includes you," she reminded him. "You suck. You're a sucker who sucks."

"Versus a sucker who spits," Marui said, not really thinking about what he had just said.

"Exactly! People don't spit, they suck – for the most part." The sexual hint in her voice made Niou's jaw dropped, and Marui snicker into his hand, finally moving his finger out of Niou's hair.

"Then it includes you, too," Niou said.

"I'm not 'people.' I'm a bitchy old woman."

Niou spent the rest of their visit arguing with his grandmother about how he didn't suck, and how she had no right to ask, "So have you two… you know?" Marui laughed the whole time, just happy to see his boyfriend happy.

Marui thought that if that were the case, and something was right in their relationship and something was bound to go wrong, then he might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

* * *

**A/N: I feel obligated to write an ending note, but I don't know what to say. So, um… Monkeys. **


	37. Chapter 37

**- 37 -**

"I brought the pizza," Marui said, pushing Niou's bedroom door open with his butt. "I even got the bread sticks and those chocolate cake things. Oh, and the hot chick was working tonight so she gave me a free bottle of Coke."

Niou sat up on his bed (lying down and staring at the ceiling really was boring), and rolled his eyes. "Coca-Cola can suck Mountain Dew's dick."

Marui laughed, setting the boxes down on Niou's dresser. "Your mom's bring up your poison in a minute, Master," Marui teased, tossing his book bag towards the TV.

Niou smirked and crossed his legs. No matter how many times he wore them, his sister's old, fuzzy, pink leopard PJs were so comfortable. He hummed, watching Marui close the door. "I like the way that sounds."

"What sounds?" Marui asked, walking over to the bed. He put one knee on the bed, leaned towards Niou, grabbed one of his shoulders, and kissed his forehead.

"Master," Niou said. "The poison part doesn't sound that bad either."

"I meant the Mountain Dew, stupid," Marui said, rolling his eyes. He pulled away from the bed and walked over to his discarded book bag which landed right in front of the TV. "Okay. We have _The Blair Witch Project _or _Paranormal Activity."_

Niou swung his legs off the bed, heading straight for the pizza. He moved the cakes and bread sticks aside, going straight for the olive pizza.

"Aren't those American horror movies?" Niou asked curiously, taking a slice out. "Why do we always watch American movies?"

"I don't know – I get them from my cousin," Marui said, pulling the case out of his bag as well as his PJs.

"The Ferris Wheel guy?" Marui nodded. "Hm… what exactly did we do when we got to the top of the Ferris Wheel? I forget."

Marui walked over to where Niou was standing by his dresser, a DVD case and his PJs in his hand. He looped his arms around Niou's neck, whispered, "This," and kissed him lightly on the lips. Niou smiled, kept his slice of pizza in his hand, and grinned into the kiss, licking at Marui's lower lip.

Niou used to think movies made kisses so cheesy. But when he kissed Marui, he realized it was cheesy, but it was amazing. The warmth of their body, being completely open, showing no shame… It was a cheesy thing. It was cheesy than the pizza.

When Marui pulled back, Niou put the pizza to Marui's lips. Marui took a bit, and then swallowed with a grimace. "Urgh. Olives taste worse than Coca-Cola."

"You did not just insult my taste in pizza."

"Yes, I did."

"Bitch."

"Love you, too," Marui said, rolling his eyes as he handed the _Blair Witch Project_ DVD case to Niou. Marui kissed Niou on the cheek, and then went to the bathroom to change.

Niou looked at the case, and then the door open. He looked over at the door, saw his mom with two two-liter bottles of Mountain Dew as well as cups, and took another bite of pizza.

_Close one_, Niou thought. _If she had come in two seconds earlier…_

"Don't stay up too late," she said, setting the bottles and cups on the desk. She looked at what Niou was wearing. "You're still wearing Riko's old pajamas?"

"I'm not wearing the top," Niou said, pulling the collar of his white t-shirt. He wanted to wear the button up top, but it was too hot to. Not that he'd tell his mom that.

"You're such an odd boy," she said while shaking her head. "Just remember to offer Marui-kun the futon – it's in the closet at the end of the hall."

Niou nodded, still chewing the pizza. She sighed and closed the door behind her. Niou walked over to the door and locked it before going back to look at the DVD case.

Marui came out of the bathroom a minute later in a black t-shirt and his Rikkaidai sweatpants. He moved Niou's pizza box aside (olives, ew), and grabbed a slice of the extra-cheese.

"So are we going to watch that?" Marui asked, grabbing a cup and a bottle of Mountain Dew before making himself comfortable on Niou's bed.

Niou shrugged and put his pizza on the box. He put the DVD in, grabbed his pizza, a cup, and the bread sticks, and sat down next to Marui.

"If you get scared I'll laugh," Niou said, turning on the TV. He reached for another small clicker and turned off the lights.

"I cried through _The Titanic_ and _The Notebook_; I'm a man, damnit."

Niou rolled his eyes.

* * *

**A/N: I was going to write more, but I got tired and thought (this is seriously what I thought), "I could make one of them piss their pants, but those movies aren't scary." They aren't, trust me.**

**Also, I just realized how horribly OOC these two have become. I mean, they've been OOC from chapter one, but this is ridiculous. I think they still have some of their quirks, though. **


	38. Chapter 38

**- 38 -**

They were working in groups in math, and Marui chose Niou to work with, and then another girl walked across the room to work with them. Marui mostly pretended to do the work, knowing Niou would be done in another minute and he could just copy.

For some odd reason, at school, the girls seemed to refuse to believe that Niou and Marui were gay. Before the fake break-up, every girl was spreading nasty rumors about how Marui's ex-girlfriends turned him gay, and how Niou was just confused. Now they were clinging to them like lost puppies. Marui thought it was funny.

"So, Niou," the girl said, "do you want to go get pizza after school?"

Marui did not find it funny when people asked out his boyfriend.

Niou looked up from the math book. His lips looked like a duck's and his pencil was resting on his upper lip. He let the pencil fall, and looked at Marui, and then back to the girl.

"You know I broke up with him a few weeks ago, right?" Niou asked. The girl nodded. "Him? _Him_. Him as in the male form of him/her."

She girl laughed softly. "It was just a phase, right? I mean, if you weren't over it, then why would you be working together?"

_Because we're playing footsies under the desk, _Marui thought, and then he added, _Bitch._

"We've been friends since we were two, and we're not girls who aren't mature enough to still stay friends after something like that." Niou narrowed his eyes. "And I can't go after school because I have practice. And stop looking at my paper, do your own damn work."

The girl turned a bright pink, and immediately went back to her work.

.

After their last class, on their way to afternoon practice, Marui and Niou were walking down the hall. Since math (their first class of the day), Niou had been asked out three times by girls, and four by guys. Marui had been asked out zero times.

"Don't pout because no one likes you," Niou said, putting his hands in his pockets as they walked down the halls. "It's not my fault girls find me so attractive – whoa!"

Midsentence, Marui grabbed Niou by the wrist, and tugged him into a bathroom. Marui locked the door behind them, and looked under the stall doors. No one else was there.

"What was that for?" Niou asked, rubbing his wrist.

Marui walked towards Niou, his expression a mix between frustration and jealously, and grabbed Niou by the shoulders. He slammed Niou's back into the tile wall, and began to undo his tie.

"What are you –"

Niou was cut off when Marui tossed his tie away, undid the first button of his shirt, and attached his lips to his neck. Niou was surprised to say the least, because even though it was Marui who first kissed him, Niou was usually the dominate one.

"Oi, stop sucking so hard," Niou said, thinking "that's what she said" in his mind.

Marui smiled into Niou's neck and only sucked harder.

"You'll leave a mark," Niou added, trying to shove Marui off of him.

Marui finally moved, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked at the small red mark on Niou's neck that was sure to be larger by tomorrow.

"What are you doing? Are you stupid? What about practice?" Niou asked, rushing over to the mirror. Damn. That was one big hickey.

Marui walked over to where Niou was in front of the mirror, wrapped his arms around his waist, and set his head on his shoulder. "I'm not stupid. Just wear your regular's jacket."

"It's hot," Niou said, putting his hands over Marui's. "Now why did you do it? If anything, I should be leaving marks on you."

"Because," Marui said, unwrapping his arms and taking a step back, "you get asked out and joke about it. You're my boyfriend, and I hate not being able to tell people. I would rather be called a 'fag' again and give up tennis than have to listen to you gush about how you keep getting asked out."

Niou sighed mentally, knowing that if he did it out loud that Marui would kill him. He walked over to his boyfriend, and moved his hair out of his face to kiss his forehead. He wrapped his arms around Marui, effectively trapping Marui's arms at his side so there was no way he could get away.

"Stupid," Niou said, kissing his nose this time. "How do you think I feel knowing you've dated half the track team? Or that you told a girl on the swim team you love her?"

Marui wiggled his body, but couldn't seem to get out of Niou's embrace. "Those girls don't mean anything, and I didn't mean it when I said I love her…"

"Then how do I know you mean it when you say it to me?" Niou asked. "I mean, you say it all the time. How am I supposed to know that you mean something you say all the time? I used to be tough, so tough that no one would mess with me. But then you had to go and kiss me that night, and now I can't stop thinking about you. My brain does stupid things around you… like not work."

Niou unwrapped his arms from Marui's body, put one hand on Marui's shoulder, and dropped his head, his forehead landing on Marui's other shoulder. "You're the first person I've kissed. You're the first person I've loved. You're the first person to make me feel so vulnerable."

"Hey," Marui said, "look at me."

Niou lifted his head, and Marui didn't know what to say. Marui had known Niou for years; he had seen him cry, he had seen him laugh, and he had seen him smile, but never in his life had he seen Niou Masaharu become so human.

"I love you," Marui said, grabbing Niou's face with both hands, and kissing him gently on his lips. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

"Stop," Niou said. "The more you said it, the more I think you don't mean it."

"Idiot!" Marui slapped Niou in the back of the head. "The only way it means something is if I say it more. The more I say it, the more I realize it's true."

Niou didn't say anything in protest when Marui kissed him again. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Marui's neck and let the red head push his back against the tile wall. Niou parted his lips just a bit, and Marui deepened the kiss. Niou felt Marui reached behind him to play with his ponytail, and smiled against Marui's lips, hoping Marui would kiss him just a little harder.

Niou liked giving Marui control sometimes. He liked feeling his pride be sucked away, if only for a second, and completely surrendering to his best friend, to the person he loves.

"I love you," Marui whispered, pulling back from the kiss.

Niou pecked Marui's lips and unwrapped his arms from Marui's neck. "Love you, too. Now let's get to practice before my damn hickey gets any bigger, or someone finds us."

Marui rubbed the back of his head and gave Niou a cheeky grin as the trickster rubbed at his neck. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry my ass. I hate you."

"Love you, too."

* * *

**A/N: No ending comments expect that I'm going on vacation for about a week, so I won't be updating during that time. **


	39. Chapter 39

**- 39 -**

Practice ended early, Niou's parents were gone, Riko was at a friend's house, and Kenji had art class. So, naturally, Niou invited Marui over. They would do homework, but they would sneak in glances. They might play a few video games, but it usually led to something else. Sometimes they would order pizza, but that usually led to something else as well. And they didn't have any intentions of going to the street courts.

Instead, Marui was lying on Niou's bed, his school shirt and tie somewhere off to the side, and Niou was looming above him, shirtless as well. Marui felt like his heart was going to pound its way through his ribcage. Marui wrapped his arms around Niou's neck with no intention of letting go. He twirled one finger around Niou's ponytail and smirked.

Niou leaned down, kissing everywhere but his boyfriend's lips. He kissed his nose, his forehead, his jaw, his neck (which he left a revenge hickey on – the one Marui gave him in the bathroom was there for at least a week), and his ear shell.

Marui, wiggling under Niou, moved one hand down Niou's back, and then slid it around to Niou's chest. He gently rubbed his boyfriend's exposed stomach, until his hand got lower, and lower, and lower…

Niou yanked his head back, rocking back so he was squatting near Marui's feet. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Don't tell me that you don't want to, too," Marui said, sitting up as he nodded towards Niou's pants.

"I –" Niou stopped himself. He did want to. He wanted to badly it hurt (literally). The way Marui's hair stuck to his forehead, the way he slowly licked his lips, and his hands drove him insane. "No," Niou said, swinging his legs off the bed. "Not now."

Marui grabbed Niou's wrist and kept him from standing up. "Niou, I won't force you, but come on, I know why you always go to the bathroom after we make-out."

Niou would have turned a little red if he didn't know why Marui went into the bathroom after him.

"Just not right now," Niou said, gently tugging his wrist away. "Just wait a little longer, okay?"

Marui nodded and sunk farther into the bed. He pulled a pillow into his chest, mumbling, "I've never done it, if that's what you're worried about."

Niou sighed and pulled his legs back onto the bed. He crawled in front of Marui, moving the pillow away. "Stop acting like a chick – it's obvious that doesn't turn me on," Niou snickered, glancing down at his pants. "I'm not worried about you doing it. We were best friends before we started going out, stupid, and I you told me whenever you kissed a girl, I think you would have told me about sex."

"Then why don't you want to?" Marui asked.

Niou sighed. Why did they have to have this conversation?

"It's just, well, you know my parents and how I was raised. Plus I heard it hurts with two guys."

"It'd only hurt me," Marui pointed out, "and I've…" Marui trailed off, turning a little red as he dropped his head into his knees.

"You've been what?" Niou asked, gently tugging at Marui's hair to make him lift his head. "I won't laugh. You've seen my cry; you have no reason to be embarrassed."

"It's only embarrassing because it's you."

_Good God, I'm dating a chick,_ Niou thought.

"Just tell me," Niou said, pulling Marui's hair a little harder.

Marui lifted his head, his face almost as red as his hair. "I've been reading and…" He paused, and Niou ran a reassuring hand through his thick, red hair. "I've been doing things so it won't hurt me as much." Niou just stared. "I-I don't think of anyone but you, I swear!" Marui added.

Niou wanted to laugh, but he didn't. He didn't want to laugh at his boyfriend because he was embarrassed, he wanted to laugh because Marui was taking this so seriously, and was embarrassed about something like sex. Then Niou realized Marui was thinking about him while doing those things, and _he_ became embarrassed just thinking about sex.

_Now I'm a chick,_ Niou thought.

Instead of laughing, he kissed Marui's forehead gently before Marui realized he was turning pink. "I promise I will one day, just not now."

"It's just sex," Marui said softly. "It feels really good… At least, what I've been doing does..."

Niou hesitated before saying, "No."

They sat there awkwardly, and Marui suddenly realized that this wasn't them. When they used to be just friends, Marui would come over all the time when Niou had the house to himself. They would do homework, maybe play a few video games, order some pizza, or go to the street courts down the street. Marui missed cursing his head off whenever Niou beat him at Brawl, or whenever Niou burped in his face. He missed the way Niou would put ice down his shirt, and play Pokémon with him at three in the morning.

"Prude," Marui snorted, breaking the silence.

Niou blinked in surprise, but then smirked and flicked Marui's ear. "Slut."

* * *

**A/N: I'm back from vacation and it seems like I got a few new reviewers and that made me smile. **


	40. Chapter 40

**- 40 -**

Niou had gone off somewhere after practice, and had shown up at Marui's house with a nut brownie for him a few hours later. Niou never got him sweets. Niou hated sweets. Niou only gave him sweets when something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Marui asked, closing his biology book.

Niou turned around. Marui gawked.

"You… cut it off?" Marui stood up from his bed, making his way over to Niou who was standing in the middle of his room. He ran his fingers along Niou's hair, feeling no trace of his pony tail.

"Yup," Niou said, turning around to face Marui. He set the brownie down on the desk, and then sat on the bed, moving the book so he didn't sit on it.

"You cut it off?" Marui asked again, refusing to move from the middle of his room. "You said you grew that out because you heard I liked girls with long hair!"

Niou shrugged. "But you're not a girl."

"But, but, but…!" Marui felt like punching something.

"I might grow it back out," Niou said, rubbing the back of his head. "It was just getting too long."

"But why'd you take the whole thing off? Why didn't you just trim it? It was mine, damnit!" Marui whined, sitting next to Niou.

Niou rolled his eyes. "If you twirled it anymore I would've take you to a doctor for OCD. Besides, I'm yours, so what's a little piece of hair?"

"But kissing won't be fun anymore," Marui complained.

"Really?" Niou sounded amused. "Kiss me."

Marui mumbled something, turned so he was sitting on his knees, and kissed Niou gently, running his hand through the back of Niou's hair. It was different; he could grab his hair now. It felt _really _different. Marui pressed harder into the kiss, his fingers curling into Niou's dyed hair. Niou grinned, putting a hand on Marui's shoulder, his thumb lazily drawing circles on Marui's neck.

"Well?" Niou asked when Marui pulled back.

"It's okay," Marui mumbled, pecking Niou's lips quickly. "Can I have my brownie now?"

"Bitchy and hungry," Niou teased.

"Shut up and give me the freakin' brownie."

* * *

**A/N: Penguins.**


	41. Chapter 41

**- 41 -**

"Bunta," Haruto and Hikaru chimed as they walked into their older brother's bedroom.

Marui was sitting at his desk, working on a project for English, while Niou was lying on the bed, playing some game on Marui's laptop. Marui set down his pencil and Japanese-to-English dictionary, and turned to look at his brothers. "What?" he asked.

"We're bored."

Marui gave them an are-you-high? look. "And you came to me because…?"

Hikaru shrugged. "We're bored. Mom's out and Dad's at work."

"Go play video games or study," Marui suggested, picking his dictionary back up.

"But we already did," Haruto complained. "Come play a game with us."

"No."

"Niou," the twins whined, going to over to Marui's bed. "Bunta's being mean. Make him stop."

Niou looked up from Marui's laptop, and over at his boyfriend. "Stop being mean, Bunta," Niou said with a teasing smile. Marui gave him a don't-say-that look, which only made Niou's smile bigger. "Bunta, don't look at me like that."

"Niou," Marui said warningly.

"Bunta."

"Niou."

"Bunta. Bunta. Bunta. Bunta."

"Get. Out." Marui set the dictionary down, stood up, and grabbed his brothers by the wrists. Marui dragged them out of the room and locked the door. He walked over to the bed, rolled Niou onto his back, and sat on his lap, hands on either side of his boyfriend's head.

"This isn't very safe, Bunta. You're brothers are probably right outside the door."

"Don't care." Marui leaned down, gently kissing his way down Niou's jaw.

"But Bunta –"

Marui moved his head so his nose was touching Niou's, and his eyes were locked with Niou's enormous blue eyes. "You'll drive me insane if you keep calling me that," Marui told him.

"That's the idea. _Bunta_."

Then they kissed, blocking out the noise Hikaru and Haruto were making from banging on the door.

* * *

**A/N: What color eyes does Niou have? I know they're green or blue, or something like that.**

**Fun Fact: Niou has never called Marui "Bunta" in this fic until this chapter, but Marui has called Niou "Masaharu" several times. **

**Note: This chapter was incredibly random, I am aware. Well, every chapter is random, but this one was really random. **

**Note II: I'll get to the chapter 39 plot eventually (Marui wants sex, Niou doesn't).**


	42. Chapter 42

**- 42 -**

Marui was only ashamed of two things. One: not being able to pat his head and rub his stomach at the same time, and two: not being able to cook his cakes. He could deal with losing in tennis, or not being first in the class, but having someone else make his sweets was a disgrace. Niou, realizing his boyfriend's shame, did the one thing he should never do.

"Why are we in your kitchen?" Marui asked, eyeing the eggs, bowls, and other baking things that were spread out on the counter.

"Because," Niou said, tossing Marui a smock, "I'm going to teach you to bake."

Marui almost laughed. "You can bake?"

Niou held up a box of cake mix. "You add eggs, water and oil, and then you stir it all together, pop it in the oven, and wait. It's not that hard."

"That's baking for idiots," Marui said, tying up his apron.

"It's still baking. Now shut your cake hole and set the oven to 350."

Niou laughed at his small pun of cake hole, but Marui didn't find it nearly as amusing. Baking and Marui went together like – actually, nothing fit Marui and baking. Jackal had tried to teach him to bake once, and used a similar easy-bake-cake-mix, but then Jackal had to go, so Marui had to finish it himself. Long story short, Marui forgot the flour, sprinkled it on top, and gave half the team food poisoning.

"Now what do I –"

"Hang on," Niou said, reaching into his back pocket to pull out his phone. He cursed under his breath, set the box down, and took off his smock. "Kenji ran his bike into a tree on his way home from art class. I need to go pick him up."

"Wait," Marui said, following Niou through the house. "Niou, I don't know what I'm doing!"

"Just follow the box," Niou said, slipping on his shoes and heading out the door.

Marui held the door open, and watched as Niou began to jog down the street. "Niou!"

Niou waved over his shoulder, yelled, "Good luck!" and then was completely out of site.

.

"You ran into a freakin' tree because you got distracted by a girl?" Niou asked as Kenji and he walked up to their house. Niou was pushing his bike, and Kenji was explaining how he managed to run into a tree.

"She was cute," Kenji said softly. "It's not my fault she waved. If someone waves, you need to wave back."

"Not when you're riding a bike!" Niou sighed, set Kenji's bike against the wall of the house, and pulled his keys out. "Don't tell Mom or Dad, they'll kill me because you got hurt, and Rinko will laugh, so I wouldn't tell her either."

"Thanks, Aniki!"

Niou rolled his eyes, mumbling, "Whatever, just go upstairs and get cleaned up," as he pushed the front door open. "Marui!" Niou called, toeing off his shoes. He quickly went into the kitchen, expecting to see a cake. If he could make a cake, he figured Marui could.

When Niou got into the kitchen, he just laughed.

"This is your fault for leaving me alone," Marui mumbled from the floor.

Niou knelt down, stifling his laughter, and examined his boyfriend. Cake batter covered his face and hands, the bowl was sitting next to him, egg shells were all over the place, Marui had flour in his hair, and the oven was beeping.

"Did Hurricane Cake hit this place?" Niou asked.

Marui frowned. "Shut up! The oven wouldn't stop beeping, then I slipped, the batter went _whoosh_, and I stayed on the floor because I kept slipping when I tried to stay up. Do you wax the damn floor or something?"

"Hey, watch your mouth, my little bro's upstairs," Niou said teasingly – he's said worse things in front of Kenji before. "Besides, it looks like it would have been a pretty good cake if you hadn't spilled the batter."

"Really?"

Niou wiped a glob of the yellow cake batter off of Marui's face with his finger and stuck it in his mouth. He blinked. It tasted funny. "Well," Niou said, pulling his finger out of his mouth, "it would have been a cake. We'll work on flavor next time."

Marui pouted. "I hate baking."

Niou took another glob of batter off of Marui's face. This time, he put his finger by Marui's mouth. Marui opened his mouth hesitantly, but eventually let Niou stick his finger inside. Marui licked the batter off, instinctively closing his eyes. Niou smirked and pulled his finger out.

"Still hate baking?" Niou asked as he fed Marui another glob of batter.

Marui hummed around Niou's finger. "I'm willing to learn."

* * *

**A/N: I know I promised to get to the chapter 39 plot line, but I get to it in chapter 44. I suck, I know. I would be an amazing porn star because I suck so much. You'll all (well, most of you) will enjoy the next chapter and what comes with it. **

**Okay, the story behind this chapter:**

**Every year in Spanish class we need to bake something. One of my friends has made this chocolate orange cake three years in a row. In eighth grade, it was too hard to eat. Freshman year, he forgot the flour so he sprinkled it on top (I thought it was powdered sugar so I took a piece and got sick after eating it). Sophomore year, it looked normal, but I was too afraid to eat it. He told me to grow a pair, I reminded him I was a girl and that it was a good thing I didn't have any balls, and he said, "Grow some ovaries." He is the master of come backs (seriously, he is - I'll probably use his comeback to "you suck" later in the story).**


	43. Chapter 43

**- 43 -**

Marui, Niou, Jackal and Akaya were walking into town one day after practice. The team stopped doing the whole "going out together" thing after Yukimura became, well, after he became a dictator.

"Burgers or sushi?" Jackal asked.

"Burgers," the other three replied quickly.

Jackal rolled his eyes. They had probably practiced that.

The four walked into a small dinner that was a few blocks down the road. Niou, Marui and Akaya sat in a booth in the corner while Jackal went to order their food. They had a rule, if you suggest going out to eat, you pay, and it was Jackal's idea.

"So," Niou said, playing with the ketchup bottle, "anything change with Yukimura?"

Akaya sighed. "Not really. He talks to me now, but it's really awkward."

Niou loosened the ketchup cap. "Let Jackal use it first," he said, sitting the red container back down. "Oh, and Akaya."

"Yeah?"

"Yukimura's an ass."

Akaya nodded. He was good friends with Yukimura, or used to be. Yukimura was his first kiss, his first crush. Yukimura knew everything about him – the way he played with legos, his favorite video games, that old teddy bear he keeps under his bed for when he gets scared. He felt so vulnerable knowing that someone knew so much about him, that someone had so much power over him.

"I just wish he cared about me enough not to let something like my feelings get in the way," Akaya mumbled.

Niou and Marui looked at each other and had a telepathic conversation (**Niou:** Oh shit, he's upset! **Marui:** Ya think?). Niou and Marui spent the next few minutes trying to cheer Akaya up, but nothing cheered the junior up more than seeing Jackal squeeze the ketchup and have it go all over the place.

"I hate you all," Jackal mumbled, pulling napkin after napkin out of the dispenser.

"We love you too," the three boys said.

Yeah, they definitely practice these things.

* * *

**A/N: I've mentioned the possibility of a side-story before, and I've finally done it. No joke. I posted it right before this chapter. "Freaks in Love?" Yes, with a "?" because they're not REALLY in love, but its close enough.  
**

**Go drop me a review or alert? Review this chapter too? (I'm an egotistical ass, I know, but every freakin' PoT author is a review whore.)  
**

**Next chapter: Chapter 39 plot line thickens!**

**Edit: I JUST changed the title to "Freaks in Love." Questions marks suck.  
**


	44. Chapter 44

**- 44 -**

Marui and Niou were under a large tree in Niou's back yard. Both boys were reading books for school, but Marui was almost done (Niou never did like reading). They enjoyed the time they spent in each other's company, even if they weren't talking.

The two heard footsteps and they looked up; Riko was walking towards them. Marui always liked Riko. Not like-like, but just like. She was cool – she wasn't that girly compared to a lot of the other girls at Rikkaidai. She was a breath of fresh air when surrounded by flowery perfume and pounds of make-up. The fact that she was holding two cans of soda might have had something to do with her cool-level, too.

"Mountain Dew?" Marui asked, taking a can.

Riko rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Yes. I don't get why you two are obsessed with this." She opened up the other can, took a sip, wrinkled her nose, and then gave it to her brother.

"Second hand incest kiss," Marui said jokingly.

Niou took Marui's can, handing him the one Riko just gave him. "Second hand kiss with my sister," Niou said, sticking his tongue out.

"I sincerely hate you," Marui said.

Niou snorted. "Yeah right."

Riko rolled her eyes again and sat down in front of the two. "You two act like a married couple."

"We're not a married couple," Marui mumbled, taking a sip of his soda.

"But you're still a couple," Riko said, gently kicking Niou's leg with her foot. Niou gave her a look, while Marui spit out his soda. "Oh, don't look so surprised, Bunta. I'm stupid."

"Yeah, you are," Niou said, smiling with Riko kicked him a bit harder.

"So does anyone else know?" Riko asked after her brother stopped laughing. "Mom and Dad seem oblivious, and Kenji laughs whenever someone says 'sex' so I doubt he knows."

Niou shrugged like he didn't care. "All the regulars but Yukimura know," Marui said, setting his can in the grass."No one else knows. Well, your grandma does."

Riko nodded and grabbed Marui's can, taking a quick sip. "Have you had sex yet?" She set the can down.

"Are you asking me to set fire to your teddy bear?" Niou asked. It wasn't the best threat he could have come up with, but he could feel his cheeks reddening and he just wanted his sister to shut up.

"Have you, Bunta?" she asked with a devilish smirk that was at par with Niou's on her lips.

Marui shook his head. "Nope."

"Do you want to?"

Before Marui could say anything, Niou knocked her foot away. "Will you leave us alone already?"

"Excuse me for wondering if my brother's relationship is moving at a healthy pace. How long have you two been going out? A couple months? That's usually when you start to have sex, or at least something more than kissing." She shrugged.

"Stop being a nosey bitch and leave," Niou hissed.

She rolled her eyes, stood up, and made her way back into the house.

.

Later that night, Marui was in Niou's room, and once again the two were on his bed, their shirts off, the door locked, the TV on the blur out the noises they made, and Marui was working on unbuttoning Niou's pants.

"Stop," Niou said, reaching down to grab Marui's wrist.

Marui used his free hand to grab both of Niou's wrists, and pin them above his head. "Niou, please, just –"

"I don't want to," Niou hissed, squirming underneath Marui.

"It's not like there's much you can do right now," Marui reminded him, grabbing his wrists a bit tighter. "Besides, even your sister thinks it's time for us to have sex."

Marui was being an ass. A horny ass. Marui promised to wait, and Niou trusted him enough to keep that promise. Apparently he was wrong to trust him.

"Come on," Marui said, running his free hand over Niou's inner thighs. "I love you."

Marui's hand moved again, gently rubbing Niou through his jeans. Niou turned his head, refusing to look at Marui. Niou began to move his legs in protest, Marui mumbled something and then sat on Niou's legs to keep him from kicking him.

"Stop," Niou ordered.

"No."

Marui leaned down, gently kissing Niou's exposed neck. Marui's kisses and hands usually made Niou feel safe, loved. Marui's hands made his blood run cold, and his lips made his head spin with confusion. He felt more betrayal more than love as Marui pulled his jeans down to his knees.

"Niou," Marui whispered, playing with the waist band of Niou's boxers. "Come on, stop fightin–"

"Get off or I'll scream."

Marui seemed more surprised than anything. Niou never once threatened Marui seriously. He always said he'd throw him out a window, or dye his hair, or shave his head, but he never meant it. This time Niou meant it.

Marui gently let go of Niou's wrists, only to be thrown off the bed to the ground. "The fuck?" Marui hissed, rubbing his head.

"Get out," Niou said, unable to look at Marui.

"Niou –"

"I said get. Out." Niou pointed to the door, as if his cold words weren't enough.

Marui grabbed his shirt, slipped it over his head, and slammed the door behind him.

Moments later, Riko opened up the door. She saw her younger brother lying on his bed, his palms covering his eyes, his jeans at his knees, and she immediately knew what had happened. She let herself in, locking the door behind her.

"Masaharu," she said, sitting next to him. "Pull your pants up; I don't want to see that."

"Shut up," Niou mumbled, lifting his hips to pull his pants up. "What do you want?"

Riko ran a hand through her black hair, looking down at her confused younger brother. "Is this why you didn't want to talk about sex earlier?"Niou rolled onto his side. "I'll take that as a yes. Listen, I didn't know that what I said earlier would make Bunta–"

"It's not your fault, okay? He's done this before."

"That's not healthy," she said, grabbing his shoulder. Niou shrugged her hand off. "You need to talk to someone about this, or talk to him."

"Don't you think I've tried talking?" Niou asked, sitting up violently. "I've tried talking to him. I've told him I don't want to have sex. He keeps pushing, and pushing, and pushing."

"Masaharu, calm down –"

"Riko, leave me alone." She didn't budge. Niou balled his hands into fists. "Riko."

"Masaharu –"

"Ri-chan," he said, his voice so soft she could barely hear him, "please."

Riko knew she shouldn't, but she went back to her room with an uneasy feeling in her stomach anyway.

* * *

**A/N: It's late (12:34). I have a headache (from listening to my ipod for the past four hours). I just posted a one-shot ("Fate"). I'm going to bed (finally).**


	45. Chapter 45

**- 45 -**

Marui didn't go home that night. He couldn't find it in himself to go home. Instead, he went half way across town to Yanagi's house. His older sister let him in, and told him that her brother was upstairs with his friends. Marui nodded, toed off his shoes, and hurried upstairs.

When he opened up the door he saw Yanagi and Yukimura sitting on the bed with video game controllers, and Sanada on the floor with an instruction manual (Sanada never was good with technology).

"Marui," Yanagi said, pausing the game.

Marui closed the door, trying to ignore the looks Yukimura was giving him. Marui was good friends with Yanagi (for some odd reason) and trusted him when he couldn't trust anyone else.

"Can we talk?" Marui asked, taking a few more steps into the room. "Alone?"

"Whatever you need to say to me, you can say to them," Yanagi said, setting his controller aside.

Marui looked at Yukimura, who was sending dangerous vibes his way. Marui looked back at Yanagi, his face desperate. "It's about Niou…"

"You two broke up. Renji even confirmed it. Unless," Yukimura looked at Yanagi, "you were lying to me, Renji. You weren't lying to me, were you?"

"Seiichi, this is my house, and you do not accuse me of something without ample proof. Now, Marui, what do you need to talk about?"

"Yes, Marui, what do you need to tell us all about?" Yukimura asked with a sickly sweet smile.

"I can't say it without –" Marui stopped and looked at Yukimura.

"Without what?" Yukimura asked.

Marui felt like he was in a war zone, and he was done fighting.

Marui walked over to the bed and grabbed Yukimura's shirt collar. "You know what, just shut up. You're being an ass about all of this. I don't know why you don't like the fact that Niou and I are together, and I really don't give a damn anymore. We're together. We never broke up. Yanagi lied for us. The _team _lied for us. _Your _team lied for us."

Yukimura seemed more surprised than anything. His eyes were wide, and he made no attempt to move Marui's hand.

"Don't you remember the first thing you told Niou when he joined the club? 'I'll always be there.' How could you say that, and then turn your back on him because I wanted to be more than friends with him? Is it my fault? Is it my fault Niou's miserable right now? Is it my fault that you hate him?"

"Marui…" Yukimura couldn't say anything else.

Marui gently let go of Yukimura's shirt, and sunk to the ground next to Sanada.

"Marui, what happened?" Yanagi asked.

"Niou's mad," Marui said, pulling his knees into his chest. "I fucked up more than before. He probably won't ever talk to me again. He probably hates me. How could he possibly love me after I…?"

"Marui –"

Marui cut Yanagi off. "I'm scared. I can't lose him. I don't _want_ to lose him."

Sanada put a hand on his shoulder while Yanagi got off the bed and began to rub his back, and Yukimura left, mumbling something about Akaya.

* * *

**A/N: I didn't want to write this chapter, but now that I'm doing Freaks I need ways to tie in the plotlines and make it so Yukimura doesn't have to be an ass forever. You'll thank me eventually.**

**Also, I passed 200 reviews last chapter. I know there are stories out there with a lot more, but that's a lot for me, so thanks for all the support! **

**Also, I've realized how much country music has influenced this story. I find that completely acceptable because I live in a farm town where a traffic jam is three cars behind a tractor going down Main Street. Or three cars behind a cow that got out of its fence.**


	46. Chapter 46

**- 46 -**

Niou wasn't showing up to school, let alone practice. He wasn't answering his phone, he wasn't replying to texts, and he wasn't talking to anyone who showed up at his house. He wasn't playing his video games, or eating his pickles and peanut butter.

Marui wasn't doing any better. He showed up to school, but Yukimura often sent him home from practice, saying it was okay considering what was going on. Marui wasn't eating his sweets, or chewing his gum.

Riko was sitting in the living room of their house. She was one second away from going up to her brother's room and knocking some sense into him and make him talk it out with Marui – it was obvious the two were in love, and she hated seeing her brother mope around the house.

The doorbell rang, and she rolled off of the sofa with a sigh. "Coming," she called, hurrying over to the door. She unlatched the door and pulled it open.

"Bunta," she said, crossing her arms. She felt wrong calling the boy who hurt her brother by his given name, but she couldn't held it – she's known Marui since he was born, and simply couldn't make the change, even if she had every right to hate him.

Marui held up a manila folder. "I have his class work. The teachers don't know that we…" He rubbed his neck awkwardly. "And everyone else on the team was busy. Could you give it to him? Oh, and could you tell him that I'm sorry?"

Riko uncrossed her arms to run a hand through her black hair. "Damnit, don't act so freakin' pathetic." She sighed, dropping her arm to her side, and then she moved aside so he could come in. "Five minutes. You get five minutes," she said.

Marui nodded, toed off his shoes, thanked her, and hurried upstairs. He walked down the hall, quickly going to Niou's room. He knocked on the door, but only got a grunt in response. He opened up the door, and saw Niou lying on his bed in a pair of black sweatpants, his headphones blaring rock music.

As Marui walked in and set Niou's homework on his desk, Niou sat up, pulling his headphones out. "Hey," Niou mumbled, turning off his ipod.

Marui slipped his hands into his pockets. "Hey."

Awkward didn't even begin to describe the feeling that swept over Marui. Niou looked like shit – there was no way around it. His eyes were red, his knuckles were a light blue from punching things, and his roots were showing. And what made Marui feel even worse was that he had caused this whole mess.

"Listen," Marui said, looking at Niou with pleading eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm an idiot."

"Yeah, you are," Niou said, swinging his legs off the bed.

"I – you're –" Marui groaned. "It doesn't matter who's right; we'll fight about it all night, you'll give me that look, you'll make me laugh, and then we'll make up. It's the same damn thing over and over. Can't we skip this stupid fight and make up?"

Niou stood up. "Do you think I _like _these stupid fights? I've been cramped up in my room for days trying to forget you. I can't look at anything sugary because I think of you. I cried over you. I love so much I want to tear my fucking heart out."

"Then why are we fighting?" Marui asked, taking a step closer to Niou.

Niou also took a step forward. They were only a foot away, and Niou could see the dark circles under Marui's eyes from his sleepless nights. "We're fighting because you're being an idiot."

"How was I being an idiot? For wanting to have sex? Excuse me for being a guy with hormones!"

"It's not about you wanting to have sex!" Niou took in a deep breath to calm himself down – Kenji was down the hall and he did not want his ten year old brother hearing him yell swear words at the top of his lungs. "It's about me not wanting to. Why don't you get that I don't want to have sex?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I don't know why don't you want to have sex? You've never told me why," Marui said, his words colder than he meant for them to be.

Niou was silent for a good ten seconds before he shook his head. "You're being an ass. This is my house, and you have no right to come in here and –"

"Why don't you want to have sex?" Marui asked again. Marui took a step forward, and Niou took a step back. "Is it me? Do you think I'm fat or ugly or something?"

"No, it's not that," Niou groaned. "Fuck. Don't make me say it."

Marui took a step forward, and this time Niou didn't take a step back. "Why don't you want to have sex?" Marui asked for a third time.

"If we have sex that means that we're really together. You've been my best friend my whole life. If you go back a year and tell me I'll be thinking about you all the time and that I love you, I'd call you insane. I don't want to fall even more in love with you just to realize this was a phase – that we're only friends."

Marui didn't know what to say. Niou was standing there, fidgeting around in his skin, his eyes darting all over the place, and Marui would be damned if it wasn't the cutest thing in the world.

"Why do you want to have sex?" Niou asked, feeling all the blood in his body rush to his cheeks – he never knew silence could literally make him feel like dying.

"I don't want you to get bored with me." Marui let out a shaky breath, fingers toying with the bottom of his shirt. "There's no one else who gets me like you do. You know everything about me. You know I don't have anything to offer past my stupid jokes. I thought that if we had sex, then you wouldn't get bored. I'd do anything to keep you from leaving me. I can't lose you, Masaharu, I just can't."

Marui balled his hands into fists, snapping his eyes shut to keep himself from crying, but it was too late. Marui gasped, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Niou took a step forward, closing the space between them to a few inches. "Crap, don't do that," he said, wrapping his arms around Marui's waist, pulling him close. "Don't cry, Bunta.

Marui wrapped his arms around Niou's shoulders, pulling him even closer. He rested his head against Niou's shoulder, gasping for air as his body shook. Marui relaxed into Niou's arms, completely forgetting about everything else but his hands rubbing his back. "How could you ever think that this is a phase? Do you really think I would be crying like a chick if this wasn't real?"

"You always cry like a chick," Niou teased.

"Shut up."

Niou brought a hand up and pulled Marui's head up – his eyes were red, his nose was runny, and his lips were quivering. Niou laughed softly, pressing his forehead against Marui's. "How could you ever think I would get bored with you?"

Marui shrugged. "'cause I'm a boring guy?"

Niou looked Marui in the eyes, not caring how cliché or chick-like it was. "Whenever I think something is wrong, you make me smile. You do that thing that makes me laugh. I know I'm never going to be able to let you go – I'm stuck to you like glue whether your boring or not."

The two stood there silently just staring at each other. Okay, it was totally cliché and chick-like, but they'd be damned if they didn't want to stay in that moment forever.

But then Riko had to go knock on the door like there was a fire.

"Oh, yeah," Marui said, chewing his bottom lip. "Riko said I only had five minutes. I guess I should be goin–"

Niou tilted his head, pressing his lips up against Marui's. "Shut up," Niou mumbled against his lips. "You're not going anywhere."

"Okay," Marui mumbled, closing his eyes, allowing Niou to take it at his pace. Niou moved his hands back down to Marui's hips, pulling his boyfriend close. When Marui smiled into the kiss, Niou couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

**A/N: I'm in love with Sugarland's single "Stuck Like Glue." It's so damn catchy. **

**This chapter sucked. I'm sorry. I suck at break-ups and make-ups. Urgh.**


	47. Chapter 47

**- 47 -**

Marui had gone mental.

Niou knew he was going to have hell to pay when he went to practice, but he didn't care – he could deal with running laps until his legs fell off. However, he did care that Marui insisted on walking into the locker room hand-in-hand. Niou didn't want to run until he died. He had his limits.

"No," Niou hissed from outside the locker room. "Yukimura will –"

"Trust me," Marui said, taking a step closer to Niou. "Please, just trust me."

Niou swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and then grabbed Marui's hand. "If Yukimura kills me, I'm going to haunt the fuck out of you."

Marui laughed, turning to peck Niou's cheek. "And then I'll exorcise your ass."

Niou rolled his eyes. "Bitch."

Marui snorted. "Jerk."

Niou opened up the door to the locker room and walked in, dragging Marui behind him, figuring he might as well get this over with. A few people began to whisper as they walked down the rows of lockers, someone yelled "fag," and everyone else just ignored them. When the two got to their lockers, they let go of the other's hand.

"Are you sure you know what you just did?" Jackal asked as he unbuttoned his school shirt.

Marui reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of gum. He popped a stick into his mouth and smiled. "When am I ever wrong? I'm a genius."

Jackal rolled his eyes and went back to changing. "I know Yukimura's been in a good mood, but I think you're pushing it."

"Stop worrying so much, Jackal. You'll get wrinkles!"

Jackal sighed – his partner was just too much. "Just don't act surprised when Yukimura turns into a mass murderer."

Marui shrugged, tossing his tie into his locker. "I think we'll be okay."

Marui shot Niou a smile over his shoulder, and Niou didn't seem nearly as convinced that everything was going to be okay. Niou stuck his tongue out at Marui, and then tossed his shirt into his locker.

Just then, the doors to the locker room opened, and Yukimura began to walk towards his locker. His locker, like all of the regulars', was in the back. He stopped at his locker, smiling at Akaya, who gave him a toothy grin in return. And then Yukimura spotted Niou.

"Niou," Yukimura said, pulling his locker door open, "is it safe to assume that you and Marui are together?"

"We broke up, remember?" Niou said, trying to sound casual.

Yukimura hummed, turning to give him a bittersweet smile. "Not according to what Marui told me a few days ago. He told me the whole team lied for you two, and that I was being an idiot."

Niou shrugged. "Yeah, so what?"

Yukimura shrugged as well, and then began to undo his tie and shirt. "Nothing. I was just wondering if that was true. If it wasn't, I'd probably assign you laps for skipping." Yukimura pulled his shirt off, tucking it neatly into his locker. "But, since you had a valid reason for skipping practice, just be ready to play a match against Akaya after laps, okay?"

Niou just stared. Yukimura had been calling Akaya "Kirihara" for weeks, and now he was suddenly "Akaya" again? And what was with that smile? Niou reached over and poked Yukimura's ribs. Yukimura lifted his arm, looked where Niou had just poked, set his arm down, and then raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is something wrong?" Yukimura asked.

Niou shook his head, and then went back to changing.

_He's human…_

Once Niou was finished zipper up his jacket, Marui grabbed his boyfriend's wrist and dragged him out of the locker room, yelling, "We're going to go do our laps, Buchou!"

"Spit out that gum, Marui!"

Marui popped a bubble.

When the locker room door closed behind them, Marui looked up at Niou and beg to do his in-yo-face dance, which consisted of very lame disco moves and a few G-rated butt wiggles.

Niou wanted to laugh, but couldn't seem to form a coherent thought besides: "_Dude_. I thought Yukimura was going to shove a tennis racket up my ass, and you're wiggling your ass? What the fuck?"

Marui stopped his wiggling, and smiled at Niou. "After _that _night, I went to Yanagi's and I flipped a shit on Yukimura. Apparently I knocked some sense into him, because he went to Akaya's and practically jumped him – he's been happy-go-lucky ever since. If you came to practice, you might have known that."

"So he's okay with us?" Niou asked.

Marui nodded. "Yup. Him and Akaya are going out, too. Or at least I think they are. I don't know. They hold hands and shit; they're more couple-y than we are."

Niou didn't know what to say, so he grabbed Marui by the lips and kissed him so hard Marui had to grab onto his shoulders to keep himself up right. When Niou pulled back, he smirked, and said, "You're the best boyfriend in the whole fucking world."

Marui went to blow a bubble, but couldn't find his gum in his mouth. He looked up –Niou never stopped getting taller, did he? – and saw Niou chewing something.

"Give me back my gum, Ni –" Marui stopped. "Masaharu."

Niou popped a bubble, said "No," and then began to jog around the courts.

"Masaharu, you get your fine ass back here and give me back my gum!" Marui yelled, jogging after him.

Niou looked over his shoulder, popped a blue bubble, and then laughed.

* * *

**A/N:I know updates have been really fast. That's because I'm going back to school at the end of the month and summer is going by really fast, so it feels like I haven't updated in like a week, but it's really only been two days. I suck at updating regularity.**


	48. Chapter 48

**- 48 -**

"Stop laughing!" Marui yelled, balling his hands into fists at his side.

Niou was rolling on his bed, had tears rolling down his face, and couldn't breath. His boyfriend was standing in his bedroom wearing the tightest jeans he had ever seen and a bright orange shirt that had "SEX ME UP" in bedazzled letters. What else was he supposed to do?

"Masaharu," Marui whimpered.

Niou finally composed himself enough to say, "It's kind of sexy, especially the pants." Marui turned red, and Niou began to laugh again. "Did you lose a bet?"

Marui nodded. "Haruto and Hikaru bet me I couldn't eat ten creampuffs in a minute. They said if I lost, they'd pick my clothes for a day, and if I won that I could pick their clothes."

"But you can eat ten creampuffs in a minute, so why are you wearing that?"

Marui rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, um, well, they found a loophole. You know how we buy the creampuffs that are frozen and you defrost them?" Niou nodded. "They were frozen and I think I cracked a tooth."

Niou laughed again, rolling onto his side. When he finally got his fit of hysterical laughter out, he looked at Marui and gave him a warm smile. How could he not smile with Marui pouting like that? Niou moved over a bit so Marui could join him on the bed. Marui didn't move. Niou moved some more. Marui still didn't move.

Niou sighed. "Dude. Riko and Kenji are out getting dinner, and my parents are working. Sit down so we can make out."

Marui wiggled. "I…" His lips kept moving, but Niou couldn't hear him.

Niou stood up. "What?"

"I… down…"

Niou sighed again, walking towards Marui. He looped his arms around his neck. "What was that, Bunta?"

"I can't sit down! The pants are too tight!"

Niou smiled, pressing his forehead against Marui's. "Then why don't we get those pants off?"

.

Kenji skipped happily to the door, Riko right behind him holding a bag full of takeout. Kenji pulled the key out from underneath the doormat and opened up the door. When Kenji didn't move to go in, Riko looked inside.

Niou was running down the stairs holding Marui's pants above his head yelling, "Eat my dust," while Marui rushed after him in his Pokémon themed boxers.

Needless to say, dinner was interesting.

* * *

**A/N: Platypus. **


	49. Chapter 49

**- 49 -**

In math, Marui was sending Niou dirty text messages. In the hall, Marui "accidentally" tripped and fell onto Niou. In English, Marui kept tugging at his tie, saying "It's too hot" while looking at Niou. At lunch, Marui made the most arousing noises as he ate. After lunch, Niou shoved Marui into the bathroom.

"It's about time," Marui said. Marui did a quick check under the stalls to make sure no one was there. "I've been waiting for you to jump me all day. Now lock the door."

He _had _been teasing him all day, and Niou was going to go insane if Marui didn't touch him, so Niou did as he was told, locking the door, wondering just what the hell his boyfriend was planning. When Niou turned around, he saw Marui leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You're a tease," Niou said, walking over to Marui.

Marui shrugged. "You could have done this earlier – it's not my fault you waited this long."

"You know," Niou said as grabbed Marui's hips, "we could get suspended if they catch us."

Marui uncrossed his arms and wrapped them around Niou's neck. "It's kinda hot, right? Knowing that anyone could walk in and see us doing things."

"What kind of things?" Niou asked, his hands moving and cupping Marui's ass, pulling them even closer.

"You make me want to do so many things," Marui said, dropping his voice a bit. "Dirty things. Hot things. Naughty, _naughty_ things."

"Like what?"

"You make me want tie you up," Marui whispered, pressing his lips to Niou's neck gently so he wouldn't leave a mark. Niou smirked, tilting his head back to give Marui better access.

"What else?" Niou asked, laughing softly when Marui ran his tongue along his Adam's apple.

Marui kissed Niou's neck one more time, and then pulled his head back to look him in the eye. "You make me want to scream," Marui mumbled, licking his lips.

"That's all?"

Marui kissed Niou hard, his tongue teasingly running against Niou's lips. When he pulled back, he had that impish smile on, the one that meant that things were about to get very hot very fast. Niou was beginning to wonder if his boyfriend had a kink for doing things in public places.

"You make me want to lock you up," Marui said, grabbing Niou's tie. He pulled the tie lose, but didn't remove it. He moved his hands, his fingers fumbling with the tiny buttons of their uniforms. He kissed at Niou's neck, occasionally drawing a grunt from Niou, until his shirt was completely unbuttoned.

"You make me want to say dirty things," Marui said, rubbing his hands over Niou's chest. "You make me want to kiss you." Marui grabbed the tie, pulling Niou in for another kiss.

Niou opened his eyes when their lips touched. Marui's face was red and their bodies were so close Niou could feel how aroused Marui was. Niou smirked – Marui _did_ have a kink for doing things in public; Marui was never that hard that fast.

"What else?" Niou asked.

Marui let go of the tie, pecked Niou's lips, and bent his knees. "You make me hot," he said, kissing his way down Niou's chest. Niou tossed his head back as Marui got lower and lower, kissing and nipping his way every inch of his exposed chest.

"You make me want you."

"Bunta," Niou said, swallowing hard. "Not here. I don't want to do it here."

Marui stood up, smiling like he had just saved the world. "But you want to do it."

Niou sighed. So _that's_ what he was planning. "You make me want to do things, too," Niou admitted, wrapping his arms around Marui and pulling him close. "But I want to do those things in a bed, where I can drive you insane – not in the second floor men's bathroom."

Marui chuckled softly. "Okay."

Niou glanced down at Marui, and then grinned. "I'm going to leave now so you can get rid of your boner."

Marui looked down, noticed his pants were tight and that Niou's weren't, and turned a new shade of red when he looked back up. "How did I _not_ turn you on?"

Niou leaned down and let out a long, hot breath against Marui's ear. "Because I don't have a fetish for doing it in public."

Niou pulled back and was greeted by a very tempting site – Marui's mouth was open, his cheeks were flaming red, and his eyes were glued to the floor. Niou ruffled Marui's hair, gave him a chaste kiss, and then walked out.

* * *

**A/N: I get so embarrassed while writing this type of chapter. I have no clue why. **


	50. Chapter 50

**Note: Please read the A/N at the bottom after reading this chapter.**

* * *

**- 50 -**

Niou was sitting on his bed in his pink, fuzzy leopard print pajamas pants, and Marui was sitting across from him in his Pokémon T-shit and boxers. Niou's parents were out of town to visit relatives, Kenji was at a friend's house for the weekend, and Riko was off on some school trip for two weeks.

"So," Marui said, finish off a can of Mountain Dew. He burped loudly, and then chucked the empty can into the middle of his room.

"Sexy," Niou mumbled sarcastically as he lied down and rolled onto his back.

Marui turned a little red and crawled over to Niou. "You know you love it." He stopped at Niou's waist, and swung a leg over, sitting comfortably on Niou's stomach.

"You're heavy," Niou said, putting his hands on Marui's knees, his hands pushing the thin fabric of his boyfriend's boxers up.

Marui pouted, and then put his hands on either side of Niou's head to support him as he leaned down to kiss him. No matter how many times Marui kissed Niou, he couldn't help but realize he was kissing Niou. It made him go a little light headed every time.

Niou moved his hands off of Marui's legs, and moved them underneath the back of his shirt. Pushing on the small of his back, Niou pushed Marui closer to him, smirking when Marui gasped a bit. No matter how many times Niou kissed Marui, the smallest things made him smile.

Niou sat up, bringing Marui with him, and flipped them so Marui was under him, Marui's legs wrapped around his waist. Niou pushed Marui's T-shirt up, and broke the kiss for a second. Marui sat up slightly, pulling his shirt off the rest of the way and tossing it aside. The second it hit the floor, Marui grabbed Niou's neck and pulled them back down.

It wasn't slow and sweet like Niou had wanted it to be. It was rushed and hurried and needy. He was sick of being afraid. He's spent his whole life being afraid of being close to people. He put up so many walls around himself, and slowly Marui was breaking down every damn brick. And, even if it was only for a few minutes, Niou wanted to shed his pride, his walls, and surrender himself completely.

"Masaharu," Marui whispered, tugging at Niou's T-shirt. "Take it off."

Niou pulled back again, and yanked his shirt up over his head. He tossed it aside, grinning like the devil when he saw Marui's flushed expression. Niou put a hand next to Marui's head to support himself when he leaned down to kiss him again while his other hand rested by his hip.

Marui made noises that were so wrong, so dirty when Niou deepened the kiss. Whenever he could, Marui would whisper "Masaharu" or "please."Marui still had his legs around Niou's waist and moved his hips against Niou's so slow it was almost torturous.

Niou pulled back yet again, licking the spit off of the corner of Marui's mouth. He moved his head again so his lips were hovering over Marui's ear. Niou let out a long, shaky breath and felt Marui wiggle under him.

"I want to do it," Niou whispered into his ear.

"You sure?" Marui asked. Niou moved his hand that had been by Marui's hip to his chest, gently brushing his thumb over Marui's nipple. "Mas –ah." Marui tossed his head to the side, his legs tightening around Niou's waist.

"I told you, I want to do it. With you. _Now._"

And then Marui smiled that smile that always made Niou go weak at the knees. "I love you, Masaharu," Marui said, running a hand through Niou's hair, stopping when his hand found where Niou's ponytail had once been.

Niou smiled back, his heart beating in his throat. "Love doesn't even begin to describe it."

.

When Marui woke up the next morning, he immediately saw Niou' alarm clock: 6:43.

"Fuck," Marui hissed, sitting up. He dropped his jaw in a silent scream, lying back down.

He ran a hand through his hair, turning his head to see where Niou had been sleeping. He wasn't there. Figuring he was in the shower, Marui slowly sat up, grabbed his boxers, which were on Niou's lampshade, and moved the covers. He lifted up his hips, biting his lip to keep himself from letting out a girly noise, and pulled his boxers up to his hips.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. _Ow_."

Marui shoved his palms against his temples to distract himself from the pain. He knew sex was going to hurt, and the first time he was okay, because Niou went slow, but he didn't expect Niou to want to do it four times – Niou had towered over him and said, "I'm not letting you off that easily," after the first round. Marui turned a little red just thinking about it.

Marui heard a click and looked up. Niou closed his bedroom door with his butt, and walked over to the desk in his pink, fuzzy leopard pants while holding a tray. He set the tray down on the desk, and then walked over to the bed. He sat down on the edge, and leaned down to kiss Marui's forehead.

"Good morning, Princess," Niou teased, ruffling Marui's bed hair.

Marui tried to glare at him, but he was too tired and just pouted. "Don't call me Princess."

Niou smiled, giving Marui a quick kiss to the lips. "How about Master of Scaring my Neighbors with his Screams?"

Marui sat up to say something, and clenched his jaw. "Ow."

Niou rolled his eyes and got off the bed. He grabbed the tray again, and set it next to Marui. "I woke up before you and I felt like a creeper staring at you while you slept, so I made breakfast. Unlike you, I can cook. Sort of. The first ten pancakes were really messed up, but these are okay. I think."

Marui didn't hear a word Niou just said. On the tray, there was chocolate milk, strawberries, five chocolate chip pancakes covered in syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream, and the latest issue of _Nintendo Power_. Marui was sure that that tray came straight from Heaven.

"You made this?" Marui asked, his mouth watering. Niou nodded. Marui reached to go grab the fork, but even that hurt. "Owie," he whimpered.

Niou sighed and turned the tray a bit. He moved the magazine aside, and grabbed the fork and knife. Quickly cutting up the pancakes, he picked up a small triangular piece and held it just far enough for Marui to have to move to get it.

"Fuck you," Marui mumbled, stretching his neck. "I can't reach it. You're evil."

"Here." Niou put the piece in front of Marui's mouth. Marui took it between his teeth, and his eyes grew wider and wider with each bite.

"That is really good," Marui mumbled, surprised.

"Like I said, I can cook," Niou said, feeding Marui another piece. "And don't say 'fuck you' to me anymore –you don't fuck me, I fuck you."

Marui glared at Niou after he swallowed the next piece. "You did not fuck me. You tried to kill me."

Niou wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended, so he just fed Marui another piece of pancake. "How did I try to kill you?"

"Four. Times." Marui frowned. "It feels like a Snorlax raped my ass."

"Does that explain all of the screaming?" Niou asked, laughing softly as he stuck a straw into the milk. He put the straw to Mariu's lips, and watched with an amused smile as Marui tried to grab the straw with his lips (he couldn't).

"You suck," Marui said, grabbing the glass from Niou's hands. He took a long sip, and then put the glass back on the tray. "And it's not my fault I screamed. It hurt."

"You said it felt good," Niou said. "Actually, you screamed that it felt good, and then you moaned it, and then you groaned, and then you were screaming again."

"Fuck you."

"Do we need to go over this again?" Niou asked, moving the tray so he could lean over and kiss Marui's pout away. "You're my little Princess, so you take it up the ass, not me."

Marui smirked, grabbing Niou's neck to keep him there a bit longer. "But." Kiss. "You know." Kiss. "Princess's get." Kiss. "Whatever they." Kiss. "Want." Kiss.

Niou sighed, pulling away from Marui's hand. He got off the bed, and then down on one knee. "What can I do you for, Princess?"

Marui hummed, thinking, and then spotted Niou's old, red N64 in front of the TV. "Put in Pokémon Snap and give me a controller."

Niou stood up, bowed, and then walked over to the gaming system. He moved the boxes of games around until he found Pokémon Snap. He stuck it in, and then set up the controller, chucking it over to the bed. Niou turned on the TV, and turned up the volume a bit.

"Anything else," Niou asked, and then added, "Princess?"

Marui nodded. He moved on the bed, wincing at the pain, and then patted the now empty space next to him. "Sit."

Niou smiled and walked over, crawling into the bed next to Marui. He grabbed a strawberry off the tray, popped it into his mouth, and then grabbed the _Nintendo Power_ as Marui loaded up an old saved file from Pokémon Snap.

Marui moved a bit so he was leaning against Niou's shoulder. Once he was comfortable, he opened up his mouth and went "ah." Niou picked up another strawberry and held it in front of Marui's mouth. "Love ya," Marui said, biting into the strawberry.

"Love you, too," Niou mumbled back, flipping through the pages of his magazine. "I was thinking that later we could order some pizza and watch some movies or some –"

Marui turned his head to catch Niou's lips in an awkward, sideways kiss. When Marui pulled back, he gave Niou a lopsided grin and said, "If you love me, you'll shut up so I can get a picture of the surfing Pikachu."

* * *

**A/N: ****I decided to stop the story here. There's still a lot more I could do, but it just felt right ending the story here. I know, I know – cheesy. Whatever. This whole damn story is cheesy. I've had so much fun writing this and I think I love this pairing more now than I did when I started. Niou and Marui are my little geeks.**

**I want to thank everyone who read this, alerted, favorited, or whatever. And to those who reviewed, you get extra thanks because, well, you guys know how I get when I reply to reviews…**

**I'd really appreciate it if you guys spent an extra minute and dropped me a review, just telling me your overall thoughts on the story (what you liked, didn't like, criticism – or just a review). **

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Dolphin**


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